Declawing a cat is barbaric and something only an ignorant caviar-munching WASP would do.
Try finding a mewling kitten whose mother was killed by a car in an alley (that makes it an alley cat, I guess). Since it wasn't weaned, the life expectancy was a few hours. The (presumed) other kittens probably died. Consider the time devoted to finding the necessary stuff and applying it to keep the kitten alive. It's now eight years old, fit, and seemingly happy. Bite me, AC. Criticism is easy when you're full of ideals, don't know anything about real life, and don't do anything to make a difference. I assume you would rather your parents had aborted you than put you through your current suffering.
Do you realize the rate of extinctions in the modern age?
Yes. It's probably slower than the rate of extinctions in previous ages from what I've read. Evolution is an ongoing experiment.
What makes you think your question is not connected to my question?
If I didn't think they were connected, I would not have connected them with my comment.
As humans continue to "improve" our surroundings, the very surroundings have a tendency to crumble under the weight of the improvements. That is because we only select for the traights we want at the moment and not the traights that bennefit the ecosystem.
I guess that's a matter of opinion as to which traits benefit the ecosystem, since we are the beneficiaries of the ecosystem. The real point of this argument is your fear of genetically engineered cats. My point is that engineered cats, cattle, or tomatoes are benign. It's been done for centuries. The thing to be frightened of is people playing with bacteria or viruses. The most deadly killer would be something we couldn't see or guard against. Think about a brand new flu bug introduced suddenly.
My house of three cats went from 6 pukes a week down to once every month or two. (Aside from the "i ate too fast" puke.)
Thanks, I am using the Purina "hairball" dry food with some wet food, and you're right, it does reduce the pukes. I'd still like to get rid of the one or two _presents_ per month. And what is it with that "i ate too fast" thing? When you finally give 'em something they like, they toss it back.:)
Well, the claw thing is kinda a contreversial thing.
Having had real experience, no you cannot tell a cat what to scratch on. The cat would rather shred your furniture and drapes than scratch the three, expensive, super-fuzzy scratching posts laced with catnip distributed around the house. Even when declawed, cats still make the same scratching movements, so the excercise thing is bogus -- the real *point* of scratching is to sharpen the claws.
House cats have been bred for all kinds of characteristics for centuries. A clawless breed would be a great house pet and far better for the cat than the trauma it suffers from being declawed. It's not just the surgery (having your fingernails cut out), it's being in a strange place, in pain, with bandages hobbling you and no familiar faces. And the pitiful looks they give you and the sounds they make when you come to pick them up. C'mon people, think of the kittens!! Sorry, I got carried away.
I'm not saying this cat is the end of civilization, but the changes GE brings have the potential to be far more risky in the long run than most people realize.
You do realize that cats and all other domestic animals have been genetically engineered since before the ancient Egyptians?
One can argue that this is because all the developers flocked around Linus ( I think Stallman has made this argument from time to time ) but given that world+dog has given up on the whole microkernel thing, it's more likely that the hurd just sucks.
In this particular instance, he starts with a premise I find specious -- that the number of patches is a valid indicator of product quality. My counter assumption is that the product with the largest installed base will have the largest number of reported bugs, therefore the largest number of patches. Which sort of makes his argument useless.
Talk about a specious premise. First, it takes only one user to report a bug. A million users reporting the same bug is still just one bug. Bugs do not scale proportionally to user count as long as there is an active user community excercising the software. Second, I don't see where Petreley made that argument. Indeed, he said that basing implied security on such numbers was bogus. He pointed out that, according to CERT, the number and percentage of "critical" patches was far higher for Windows. That is an indicator of vulnerability. Did you actually read the full report?
If I say elephants fart because the sun shines, and you observe an elephant farting, can you reasonably conclude that the sun is shining?
Offhand, I'd conclude you had your attention on an airy argument and stepped in it.
Diebold asserts that its systems have been scrutinized, including at a source code level, by independent authorities
The companies that make the voting machines pay one of three companies to *test* and *certify* their machines. None of the companies are willing to say exactly what's involved, but one testing outfit indicated it includes drop-testing.
I don't know if the paper record is "voter verified", or what mechanism it uses, but there is apparently a paper record nonetheless.
There is no paper record for each individual vote. That is why Diebold is being sued in California - there is no way to do a manual recount as required by law. If you look at the wording of your linked article, all it says is that they print out the totals from each machine. That's not going to allow the totals to be verified.
...if only it could have missed the Titanic, we would have been spared some DiCaprio acting, and more importantly, 3:30 minutes of ear-pearcing Celine Dion.
At least in Titanic, DiCaprio was somewhat fitting for the part. In Gangs of New York, using DiCaprio was like casting Tinker Bell for Captain Hook's role.
Those people are now ex-Windows users by definition, like me. You don't realize the product you're using is bad and keep on using it if there is an alternative.
So, of the eleven alerts you've mentioned, only one applies to Linux (the kernel). Alerts on CERT regarding Windows and IE all apply to the Windows kernel (not Windows and all applications). Your other ten alerts concern third-party software. How many messages do you get from Microsoft or CERT alerting you to problems with third-party MS software? None? Possibly because they don't know about them and the third-party vendors aren't willing to admit them? Stop trying to compare road apples to apple pie.
Linux vs. Windows cannot be allowed to devolve into a repeat of OS/2 vs. Windows. I have nothing against Nick -- I often enjoy his writing -- but you have to recognize an established perspective.
Sorry, but as long as something like 90% of all the 'reports' about Linux being more secure and 'mythbusting' reports are writen by Linux supporters or have some business in seeing Linux succeed, I'm going to take this with a grain of salt.
But you'll swallow Microsoft's claim that Windows is more secure than Linux hook, line, and sinker because MS doesn't have a vested interest? Who do you expect to write a report that exposes Microsoft's claims for the cherry-picking they are? A Microsoft fan?
If this guy was an ex-Windows programmer I'd be more understanding, but "former lives include editorial director of LinuxWorld"?
Petreley didn't grow up in a vacuum. He knows about Windows. He was also a long-time columnist for Infoworld and Computerworld, hardly opponents of Microsoft. It's not surprising he no longer works for Computerworld. Their new editor is cluelessly anti-Linux. He thinks non-business Linux users are cult members. Coverage of Linux has gone from 6 or 8 articles per issue under the previous editor to one offhand reference in the latest.
Running an aplication without the use of an OS... uh-huh. Exactly *how* this application is supposed to run is beyond my imagination.
While I don't think that was the intention, there are any number of applications that run without an OS. Many single-purpose embedded applications have no need for an OS, it would just be overhead. An OS is just a program that abstracts the layer below it, making it easier for programmers to write programs and for multiple programs to run at once. (Yeah, I know that's oversimplified, but an OS isn't strictly necessary to run an app.)
$300? You can purcahse a OEM copy of Windows XP Pro for $99.
That number seemed really low, so I checked Bestbuy. The retail UPGRADE version of XP Pro is $199.99. The full XP Pro version is $299.99. For large values of $299.99, it looks like $300 to me.
Why doesn't John get married to that alien already so we can have the series end. They keep dragging it and dragging it. It's like a soap opera in space. It's freakin annoying.
Well, if you'd actually watched it, you'd know that John was avoiding Aeryn because Scorpi was watching them, and John didn't want Scorpi to be able to use Aeryn and the coming baby as leverage against him. All scifi series are space soap operas. Farscape was the most innovative scifi around. Unfortunately, the TV channels, and most viewers, just want yet another Star Trek with a different cast.
Back on topic to Farscape though, the show was actually fairly good early on, and then things got pretty weird, pretty fast and then the Sci-Fi channel found much better shows including the Stargates.
You've gotta be kidding. Grunts in Space is better? At least Farscape wasn't predictable. There was a plot and a continuing story line that was never completed because it was axed. If being different makes it weird, then I guess I like weird scifi. I just hope they finish the story this time, and I hope Aeryn and John and the baby are all together at the end. *sniffle*
Intriguingly, a forum system not unlike Slashdot could be used to modernize the ancient concept of direct participation in democracy and apparently can scale up to around a million users and still maintain some functionality.
Absolutely. The ancient Greek concept of democracy excluded all women or males who didn't own property. The modern equivalent would enfranchise males living in basements.
So, Slashdot could become the replacement for the misused sense of democracy that we now have in the States.
Brilliant. We put each shlashbots' vote up for moderation, then M2 it, and wait for the editors to okay it. I'm not going to say any more.
Slashdot Mirror
Really? Who's doing it? Who's the experimenter?
You haven't figured it out yet? It's time for you to leave now, Sherpa, and follow your own path to enlightenment. The short answer is 42, but YMMV.
Declawing a cat is barbaric and something only an ignorant caviar-munching WASP would do.
Try finding a mewling kitten whose mother was killed by a car in an alley (that makes it an alley cat, I guess). Since it wasn't weaned, the life expectancy was a few hours. The (presumed) other kittens probably died. Consider the time devoted to finding the necessary stuff and applying it to keep the kitten alive. It's now eight years old, fit, and seemingly happy. Bite me, AC. Criticism is easy when you're full of ideals, don't know anything about real life, and don't do anything to make a difference. I assume you would rather your parents had aborted you than put you through your current suffering.
Do you realize the rate of extinctions in the modern age?
Yes. It's probably slower than the rate of extinctions in previous ages from what I've read. Evolution is an ongoing experiment.
What makes you think your question is not connected to my question?
If I didn't think they were connected, I would not have connected them with my comment.
As humans continue to "improve" our surroundings, the very surroundings have a tendency to crumble under the weight of the improvements. That is because we only select for the traights we want at the moment and not the traights that bennefit the ecosystem.
I guess that's a matter of opinion as to which traits benefit the ecosystem, since we are the beneficiaries of the ecosystem. The real point of this argument is your fear of genetically engineered cats. My point is that engineered cats, cattle, or tomatoes are benign. It's been done for centuries. The thing to be frightened of is people playing with bacteria or viruses. The most deadly killer would be something we couldn't see or guard against. Think about a brand new flu bug introduced suddenly.
My house of three cats went from 6 pukes a week down to once every month or two. (Aside from the "i ate too fast" puke.)
Thanks, I am using the Purina "hairball" dry food with some wet food, and you're right, it does reduce the pukes. I'd still like to get rid of the one or two _presents_ per month. And what is it with that "i ate too fast" thing? When you finally give 'em something they like, they toss it back. :)
Well, the claw thing is kinda a contreversial thing.
Having had real experience, no you cannot tell a cat what to scratch on. The cat would rather shred your furniture and drapes than scratch the three, expensive, super-fuzzy scratching posts laced with catnip distributed around the house. Even when declawed, cats still make the same scratching movements, so the excercise thing is bogus -- the real *point* of scratching is to sharpen the claws.
House cats have been bred for all kinds of characteristics for centuries. A clawless breed would be a great house pet and far better for the cat than the trauma it suffers from being declawed. It's not just the surgery (having your fingernails cut out), it's being in a strange place, in pain, with bandages hobbling you and no familiar faces. And the pitiful looks they give you and the sounds they make when you come to pick them up. C'mon people, think of the kittens!! Sorry, I got carried away.
I'm not saying this cat is the end of civilization, but the changes GE brings have the potential to be far more risky in the long run than most people realize.
You do realize that cats and all other domestic animals have been genetically engineered since before the ancient Egyptians?
Please, for the good of humanity, let evolution take its course and remove these people from the gene pool!
Allergies often arise after years of repeated exposure to something. Be careful what you wish for.
Maybe after they have the allergy thing covered, they can genetically engineer a better disposition for the cats.
That's good, but engineering cats without claws would be even better. Maybe they could do something about that hairball thing too.
One can argue that this is because all the developers flocked around Linus ( I think Stallman has made this argument from time to time ) but given that world+dog has given up on the whole microkernel thing, it's more likely that the hurd just sucks.
Natural selection at the kernel level.
In this particular instance, he starts with a premise I find specious -- that the number of patches is a valid indicator of product quality. My counter assumption is that the product with the largest installed base will have the largest number of reported bugs, therefore the largest number of patches. Which sort of makes his argument useless.
Talk about a specious premise. First, it takes only one user to report a bug. A million users reporting the same bug is still just one bug. Bugs do not scale proportionally to user count as long as there is an active user community excercising the software. Second, I don't see where Petreley made that argument. Indeed, he said that basing implied security on such numbers was bogus. He pointed out that, according to CERT, the number and percentage of "critical" patches was far higher for Windows. That is an indicator of vulnerability. Did you actually read the full report?
If I say elephants fart because the sun shines, and you observe an elephant farting, can you reasonably conclude that the sun is shining?
Offhand, I'd conclude you had your attention on an airy argument and stepped in it.
Diebold asserts that its systems have been scrutinized, including at a source code level, by independent authorities
The companies that make the voting machines pay one of three companies to *test* and *certify* their machines. None of the companies are willing to say exactly what's involved, but one testing outfit indicated it includes drop-testing.
I don't know if the paper record is "voter verified", or what mechanism it uses, but there is apparently a paper record nonetheless.
There is no paper record for each individual vote. That is why Diebold is being sued in California - there is no way to do a manual recount as required by law. If you look at the wording of your linked article, all it says is that they print out the totals from each machine. That's not going to allow the totals to be verified.
At least in Titanic, DiCaprio was somewhat fitting for the part. In Gangs of New York, using DiCaprio was like casting Tinker Bell for Captain Hook's role.
Those people are now ex-Windows users by definition, like me. You don't realize the product you're using is bad and keep on using it if there is an alternative.
So, of the eleven alerts you've mentioned, only one applies to Linux (the kernel). Alerts on CERT regarding Windows and IE all apply to the Windows kernel (not Windows and all applications). Your other ten alerts concern third-party software. How many messages do you get from Microsoft or CERT alerting you to problems with third-party MS software? None? Possibly because they don't know about them and the third-party vendors aren't willing to admit them? Stop trying to compare road apples to apple pie.
I read the article and it seems more like a linux strengths, windows weakness type of article.
No, it was a point-by-point rebuttal of Microsoft's claims of better security.
I was hoping someone more educated in the operating system development/design field had come up with this analysis.
God was busy. Petreley volunteered.
Linux vs. Windows cannot be allowed to devolve into a repeat of OS/2 vs. Windows. I have nothing against Nick -- I often enjoy his writing -- but you have to recognize an established perspective.
And that would be because he has been right?
Big Oil was able to buy corrupt officials and maintain their decidedly un-capitalist ways. Will Microsoft?
Was that a rhetorical question, or did you miss the DoJ's dance with Microsoft?
Sorry, but as long as something like 90% of all the 'reports' about Linux being more secure and 'mythbusting' reports are writen by Linux supporters or have some business in seeing Linux succeed, I'm going to take this with a grain of salt.
But you'll swallow Microsoft's claim that Windows is more secure than Linux hook, line, and sinker because MS doesn't have a vested interest? Who do you expect to write a report that exposes Microsoft's claims for the cherry-picking they are? A Microsoft fan?
If this guy was an ex-Windows programmer I'd be more understanding, but "former lives include editorial director of LinuxWorld"?
Petreley didn't grow up in a vacuum. He knows about Windows. He was also a long-time columnist for Infoworld and Computerworld, hardly opponents of Microsoft. It's not surprising he no longer works for Computerworld. Their new editor is cluelessly anti-Linux. He thinks non-business Linux users are cult members. Coverage of Linux has gone from 6 or 8 articles per issue under the previous editor to one offhand reference in the latest.
Running an aplication without the use of an OS ... uh-huh. Exactly *how* this application is supposed to run is beyond my imagination.
While I don't think that was the intention, there are any number of applications that run without an OS. Many single-purpose embedded applications have no need for an OS, it would just be overhead. An OS is just a program that abstracts the layer below it, making it easier for programmers to write programs and for multiple programs to run at once. (Yeah, I know that's oversimplified, but an OS isn't strictly necessary to run an app.)
$300? You can purcahse a OEM copy of Windows XP Pro for $99.
That number seemed really low, so I checked Bestbuy. The retail UPGRADE version of XP Pro is $199.99. The full XP Pro version is $299.99. For large values of $299.99, it looks like $300 to me.
They will all be returning for a flu shot, at which time you can capture and tax them.
And then there's the size thing.
What? You're the twit who has been filling my inbox with spam? And how would you know in the first place, you peeping tommy?
Why doesn't John get married to that alien already so we can have the series end. They keep dragging it and dragging it. It's like a soap opera in space. It's freakin annoying.
Well, if you'd actually watched it, you'd know that John was avoiding Aeryn because Scorpi was watching them, and John didn't want Scorpi to be able to use Aeryn and the coming baby as leverage against him. All scifi series are space soap operas. Farscape was the most innovative scifi around. Unfortunately, the TV channels, and most viewers, just want yet another Star Trek with a different cast.
Back on topic to Farscape though, the show was actually fairly good early on, and then things got pretty weird, pretty fast and then the Sci-Fi channel found much better shows including the Stargates.
You've gotta be kidding. Grunts in Space is better? At least Farscape wasn't predictable. There was a plot and a continuing story line that was never completed because it was axed. If being different makes it weird, then I guess I like weird scifi. I just hope they finish the story this time, and I hope Aeryn and John and the baby are all together at the end. *sniffle*
Intriguingly, a forum system not unlike Slashdot could be used to modernize the ancient concept of direct participation in democracy and apparently can scale up to around a million users and still maintain some functionality.
Absolutely. The ancient Greek concept of democracy excluded all women or males who didn't own property. The modern equivalent would enfranchise males living in basements.
So, Slashdot could become the replacement for the misused sense of democracy that we now have in the States.
Brilliant. We put each shlashbots' vote up for moderation, then M2 it, and wait for the editors to okay it. I'm not going to say any more.