Who cares? We're probably just talking thin-film reflectors here. If they get enough holes punched in them that power output drops too much, just have your maintenance robots unfurl some more.
Another advantage is that in space, immensity can be bought very cheaply, once you have the infrastructure in place to build it. Put it this way: how much of every terrestrial structure is devoted to supporting said structure against Earth's gravity? The answer: most of it.
Plus which, as others here have pointed out, in space solar power is something.
On the other hand, they were perfectly happy when we couldn't just jam 10,000 songs and a few dozen movies into a small device that fits in a pocket. They're no particular fan of cheap storage, believe me. It's not a matter of what they can or can't do to you, it's the fact that a low cost per bit made it really easy for people acquire vast collections of media. That does piss them off, bigtime... if those assholes were running the show back then, we'd all be using 5.25" floppies.
No, the Yuppy subspecies is alive and well, I'm afraid. I'm surrounded by them in my subdivision, although, to be fair, most of them seem to be DINKs with topheavy mortgages and even bigger SUVs.
The American Dream in action, sort of. Well, not really I guess.
More importantly... for industry. Small closed communities are a good start, but what we need is a self-sufficient Moon-based civilization. The Moon's gravity well is a lot easier to get in and out of than Earth's, and it would be a good place to begin wholesale exploitation of the entire Solar System. We won't really know for sure what resources the Moon can actually provide until we build a substantial presence there and start mining and core drilling and really digging in.
What most of people don't seem to get is this: once we wise up and develop a spaced-based industrial economy and start exploiting the natural resources of our system, the human race will be rich. Take metals, for instance. One large nickel-iron asteroid, if moved into Earth or Lunar orbit, would provide our mineral needs for, well, a very long time. People are already talking about ways to do it... and that's just the beginning.
All you people that think that money invested in spacegoing R&D is intrinsically wasted and better spent "down here" are willing to throw away our best chance for longevity as a high-technology civilization.
every other operating system except Windows and Linux. Personally, I like some distributions of Linux, but to recommend that manufacturers only supply machines with copies of Windows and Linux is wrong. Let them ship a copy of Windows (if the user wants it) or any thing else that the manufacturer thinks will help sell his hardware. This isn't about Linux vs Windows... this is about Windows vs. everyone else.
So why do the manufacturers keep on installing Norton Shitware, rather than something that works?
Why do manufacturers keep on installing Microsoft Windows, rather than something that works? The rationale that Joe Sixpack can't handle protecting himself is all the more reason the operating system itself should be reasonably bulletproof. If Windows were as hardened as SELinux, Solaris or pretty much any of the BSDs we wouldn't be having this discussion.
I agree, though, I wouldn't use Symantec either. Personally I like NOD32, but at work we use AVG. Works very well.
Sometimes you can have too much of a good thing. One day we received an HP-Compaq box that, after we booted it for the first time and ran the post-startup initialization, refused to talk to our network. We couldn't map any file shares, anything. It was also a 2.4 Ghz box that was running like an 8088 on Valium. Turned out that it was configured to have the Windows firewall, Symantec's and another vendor's firewalls on at the same time, with both virus scanners beating away on the hard disk.
What do you think Joe Sixpack would have made of that? I have to wonder how many machines they shipped like that before someone figured it out.
So these people listening in an office could not be tracked whether they each had their own radio or not. It would not affect the reported numbers, the estimated audience, the reports to the royalties board or the royalties that would be collected. Not in any way on earth whatso-freaking-ever.
Yes but keep in mind that we're talking lawyers here (or is it barristers?) Either way, if anyone can find a legally palatable rationalization for patently irrational behavior these guys can do it. I'm not trying to knock all attorneys here, but let's face it... some of the stuff they come up with just moggles the bind.
Just look at the RIAA's lawsuit mill. If that's not an example if institutionalized sociopathy I don't know what is.
I dunno how well this works on Vista, but the Mega Codec Pack works great on XP: haven't yet found anything I can't play using it. Includes Real Alternative too, I believe.
You win that bet, hands down. One of the other engineers with whom I work put it this way: "Just gimme the damn pipe." I mean, my server does poll the free address from my ISP, just to get the occasional notification, but I've never given it out to anyone and I've never used it.
Back when I was on AT&T Broadband, they insisted I run their "diagnostic" spyware package before they would do anything to fix any communications issues (God help you if admitted to using NAT or an external firewall.) I ended up installing a Windows partition with all their crap on a removable drive that I would throw in whenever I had to call them to report an outage or something, one that I would cheerfully plug right into the cable modem if I was asked. I didn't care if it got infected, since when they were done admitting that I was right all along and the problem was on their end, I would just pull the drive out and put it back on the shelf until next time.
What does bother me is how often ISPs technical support people deliberately put their customers in harm's way with instructions such as, "okay, I'll need you to turn off your firewall" or "if you're using a router, be sure to plug your computer directly into the cable modem." With that kind of negligence, they have no right to complain about the support and bandwidth costs of zombied boxes. What's the mean time to infection for an unpatched Windows system nowadays, anyway?
If you want to assign blame, I'd say it's a certain operating system vendor's fault. Granted, no operating system is immune to malware, but at least if the bar were raised a bit higher we might not see so much of it.
Numbers, again. And yes, if you could get people on that jury to understand how many zeroes are to the right of the one in "terabyte" you might have a chance with that sort of argument.
The jury selection process doesn't seem to favor people with the presumed ability to handle numbers, or with technical or scientific knowledge. At least, that was my experience the last time I've was called to jury duty. I was in (and quickly out) of several courtrooms over the course of a twelve-hour period at the courthouse, including jury selection for three or four capital cases. Each and every time, I was excused via peremptory challenge as soon as it was discovered that I was an engineer.
Judge: "What do you do for a living, Mr. ScrewMaster?"
Me: "I'm a senior software engineer, Your Honor."
Lawyer: "Ah, Your Honor, we'd like to excuse Mr. ScrewMaster."
Every damn time. I could have gotten out of the whole thing (I number attorneys among my family and friends) but I decided to perform my civic duty. Turned out to be a complete waste of time since there was no chance of my ever serving on a jury anyway. And I wasn't the only one: everyone else I saw that appeared to have a technical background was excused. They only get three peremptory challenges here, I believe: you know, where they don't have to give a reason why they want the juror removed. I suppose if there were four or more technical people on the jury they'd have had to work harder to get rid of them.
Hey, at least I got the nine dollars they pay you for your time. Well, maybe it's more now, this was several years ago. I bought myself a Big Mac meal on the way home that night.
a more respectable organization can perform a thorough, honest investigation.
True, so maybe we could hire a respectable foreign intelligence service. There are several good ones available (MI6, the Mossad, etc.) but I'd recommend the Sluzhba Vneshney Razvedki. Sure, why not use the SVR... let's ask our Russian friends for help in this matter. I mean, Russia could use the money, and the SVR is a top-notch intelligence service, so I'm sure they'll get the job done very efficiently. We might find ourselves short a few Congressmen, corporate executives and FCC commissioners when the investigation is complete (Russia does have a certain ruthlessness in managing such affairs) but that's okay... we can well spare them. Furthermore, I'm sure the results of said investigation would be very interesting.
The Red Army might also provide a solution to the United States' immigration problem as well. I suggest we designate a one-mile-wide strip of land along the border with our southern friends as sovereign Russian territory. Let the Red Army bring in a sufficient number of men and materiel to defend their land (think of it as a live-fire training exercise.) All you would really need to do would be pay them well, provide plenty of ammunition, Vodka and hookers. Certainly this would be a boon to Nevada's economy, although it probably wouldn't be a good idea for anyone else to go there: drunk Russian soldiers shooting at anything that moves would be plenty dangerous.
I don't see the problem here, I mean, if we're going to be part of the Global Economy, we might as well get it over with and go all the way.
Tip of the iceberg syndrome, and the thing is... they're still managing to hide the tip! We know there's an iceberg, we know we're about to plow right into it, Titanic-style... but we can't actually see it.
Okay... what about this site? I have the feeling that most of the people who's videos are posted there would just as soon their families didn't watch them.
Slashdot Mirror
Who cares? We're probably just talking thin-film reflectors here. If they get enough holes punched in them that power output drops too much, just have your maintenance robots unfurl some more.
Another advantage is that in space, immensity can be bought very cheaply, once you have the infrastructure in place to build it. Put it this way: how much of every terrestrial structure is devoted to supporting said structure against Earth's gravity? The answer: most of it.
Plus which, as others here have pointed out, in space solar power is something.
and how much of that goes to the likes of Symantec?
On the other hand, they were perfectly happy when we couldn't just jam 10,000 songs and a few dozen movies into a small device that fits in a pocket. They're no particular fan of cheap storage, believe me. It's not a matter of what they can or can't do to you, it's the fact that a low cost per bit made it really easy for people acquire vast collections of media. That does piss them off, bigtime ... if those assholes were running the show back then, we'd all be using 5.25" floppies.
No, the Yuppy subspecies is alive and well, I'm afraid. I'm surrounded by them in my subdivision, although, to be fair, most of them seem to be DINKs with topheavy mortgages and even bigger SUVs.
The American Dream in action, sort of. Well, not really I guess.
More importantly ... for industry. Small closed communities are a good start, but what we need is a self-sufficient Moon-based civilization. The Moon's gravity well is a lot easier to get in and out of than Earth's, and it would be a good place to begin wholesale exploitation of the entire Solar System. We won't really know for sure what resources the Moon can actually provide until we build a substantial presence there and start mining and core drilling and really digging in.
... and that's just the beginning.
What most of people don't seem to get is this: once we wise up and develop a spaced-based industrial economy and start exploiting the natural resources of our system, the human race will be rich. Take metals, for instance. One large nickel-iron asteroid, if moved into Earth or Lunar orbit, would provide our mineral needs for, well, a very long time. People are already talking about ways to do it
All you people that think that money invested in spacegoing R&D is intrinsically wasted and better spent "down here" are willing to throw away our best chance for longevity as a high-technology civilization.
Then again, maybe you don't want that.
every other operating system except Windows and Linux. Personally, I like some distributions of Linux, but to recommend that manufacturers only supply machines with copies of Windows and Linux is wrong. Let them ship a copy of Windows (if the user wants it) or any thing else that the manufacturer thinks will help sell his hardware. This isn't about Linux vs Windows ... this is about Windows vs. everyone else.
The joke was adequate, but I think the GP needs to put on that helmet in order to be able to get it.
So why do the manufacturers keep on installing Norton Shitware, rather than something that works?
Why do manufacturers keep on installing Microsoft Windows, rather than something that works? The rationale that Joe Sixpack can't handle protecting himself is all the more reason the operating system itself should be reasonably bulletproof. If Windows were as hardened as SELinux, Solaris or pretty much any of the BSDs we wouldn't be having this discussion.
I agree, though, I wouldn't use Symantec either. Personally I like NOD32, but at work we use AVG. Works very well.
Sometimes you can have too much of a good thing. One day we received an HP-Compaq box that, after we booted it for the first time and ran the post-startup initialization, refused to talk to our network. We couldn't map any file shares, anything. It was also a 2.4 Ghz box that was running like an 8088 on Valium. Turned out that it was configured to have the Windows firewall, Symantec's and another vendor's firewalls on at the same time, with both virus scanners beating away on the hard disk.
What do you think Joe Sixpack would have made of that? I have to wonder how many machines they shipped like that before someone figured it out.
Hard to imagine being able to force the Supreme Being to do anything He doesn't want to do ... but it might attract God to a more compliant receptacle.
Hey, no less crazy than your original hypothesis.
So these people listening in an office could not be tracked whether they each had their own radio or not. It would not affect the reported numbers, the estimated audience, the reports to the royalties board or the royalties that would be collected. Not in any way on earth whatso-freaking-ever.
... some of the stuff they come up with just moggles the bind.
Yes but keep in mind that we're talking lawyers here (or is it barristers?) Either way, if anyone can find a legally palatable rationalization for patently irrational behavior these guys can do it. I'm not trying to knock all attorneys here, but let's face it
Just look at the RIAA's lawsuit mill. If that's not an example if institutionalized sociopathy I don't know what is.
that's one down. Now if we can just get Comcast to go for it ...
I dunno how well this works on Vista, but the Mega Codec Pack works great on XP: haven't yet found anything I can't play using it. Includes Real Alternative too, I believe.
and Bill promised never to call him "Uncle Fester" in public. The rest, as they say, is history.
Can't argue with that, but personally I think Ballmer more resembles an evil Peter Boyle.
God, I love this company!
Well, between you and Steve Ballmer, that's two.
And ... wouldn't that be the point? I sure hope you're wrong too.
You win that bet, hands down. One of the other engineers with whom I work put it this way: "Just gimme the damn pipe." I mean, my server does poll the free address from my ISP, just to get the occasional notification, but I've never given it out to anyone and I've never used it.
Back when I was on AT&T Broadband, they insisted I run their "diagnostic" spyware package before they would do anything to fix any communications issues (God help you if admitted to using NAT or an external firewall.) I ended up installing a Windows partition with all their crap on a removable drive that I would throw in whenever I had to call them to report an outage or something, one that I would cheerfully plug right into the cable modem if I was asked. I didn't care if it got infected, since when they were done admitting that I was right all along and the problem was on their end, I would just pull the drive out and put it back on the shelf until next time.
What does bother me is how often ISPs technical support people deliberately put their customers in harm's way with instructions such as, "okay, I'll need you to turn off your firewall" or "if you're using a router, be sure to plug your computer directly into the cable modem." With that kind of negligence, they have no right to complain about the support and bandwidth costs of zombied boxes. What's the mean time to infection for an unpatched Windows system nowadays, anyway?
Not at all. It's my way of agreeing with you that we're unlikely to see a proper investigation by any of the usual suspects.
If you want to assign blame, I'd say it's a certain operating system vendor's fault. Granted, no operating system is immune to malware, but at least if the bar were raised a bit higher we might not see so much of it.
Numbers, again. And yes, if you could get people on that jury to understand how many zeroes are to the right of the one in "terabyte" you might have a chance with that sort of argument.
The jury selection process doesn't seem to favor people with the presumed ability to handle numbers, or with technical or scientific knowledge. At least, that was my experience the last time I've was called to jury duty. I was in (and quickly out) of several courtrooms over the course of a twelve-hour period at the courthouse, including jury selection for three or four capital cases. Each and every time, I was excused via peremptory challenge as soon as it was discovered that I was an engineer.
Judge: "What do you do for a living, Mr. ScrewMaster?"
Me: "I'm a senior software engineer, Your Honor."
Lawyer: "Ah, Your Honor, we'd like to excuse Mr. ScrewMaster."
Every damn time. I could have gotten out of the whole thing (I number attorneys among my family and friends) but I decided to perform my civic duty. Turned out to be a complete waste of time since there was no chance of my ever serving on a jury anyway. And I wasn't the only one: everyone else I saw that appeared to have a technical background was excused. They only get three peremptory challenges here, I believe: you know, where they don't have to give a reason why they want the juror removed. I suppose if there were four or more technical people on the jury they'd have had to work harder to get rid of them.
Hey, at least I got the nine dollars they pay you for your time. Well, maybe it's more now, this was several years ago. I bought myself a Big Mac meal on the way home that night.
We don't need to get political power. We just need to get BFG9000s.
If you don't have the occasional spectacular failure, you're probably not innovating enough.
Or motivated enough. I'm sure the Emperor could find new ways to motivate them though.
a more respectable organization can perform a thorough, honest investigation.
... let's ask our Russian friends for help in this matter. I mean, Russia could use the money, and the SVR is a top-notch intelligence service, so I'm sure they'll get the job done very efficiently. We might find ourselves short a few Congressmen, corporate executives and FCC commissioners when the investigation is complete (Russia does have a certain ruthlessness in managing such affairs) but that's okay ... we can well spare them. Furthermore, I'm sure the results of said investigation would be very interesting.
True, so maybe we could hire a respectable foreign intelligence service. There are several good ones available (MI6, the Mossad, etc.) but I'd recommend the Sluzhba Vneshney Razvedki. Sure, why not use the SVR
The Red Army might also provide a solution to the United States' immigration problem as well. I suggest we designate a one-mile-wide strip of land along the border with our southern friends as sovereign Russian territory. Let the Red Army bring in a sufficient number of men and materiel to defend their land (think of it as a live-fire training exercise.) All you would really need to do would be pay them well, provide plenty of ammunition, Vodka and hookers. Certainly this would be a boon to Nevada's economy, although it probably wouldn't be a good idea for anyone else to go there: drunk Russian soldiers shooting at anything that moves would be plenty dangerous.
I don't see the problem here, I mean, if we're going to be part of the Global Economy, we might as well get it over with and go all the way.
Tip of the iceberg syndrome, and the thing is ... they're still managing to hide the tip! We know there's an iceberg, we know we're about to plow right into it, Titanic-style ... but we can't actually see it.
Okay ... what about this site? I have the feeling that most of the people who's videos are posted there would just as soon their families didn't watch them.