You've got some good examples of inconsistencies. It would be nice if basic data types were objects. It would be nice if Integer and String weren't final. The iterator thing is nice, although it sounds to me like you've just read a C# book (really, a privately allocated local object isn't that awful, at least with modern garbage collectors). And the inconsistent naming of class methods is due to sloppy programming, although it would be nice if they enforced the get/set naming convention as a rule.
However, you can't get an absolute value of an Integer? Ever try Math.abs(Integer)? It takes the absolute value of an integer. Perhaps you wanted it back as an object? Well, since int is not an object, you can always wrap it inside another Integer. Like "new Integer(Math.abs(Integer))". In both clases, replace "Integer" with your Integer object. This may not have the syntactic sugar as some languages, but its exactly what goes on under the covers if ints are not objects. Seems pretty straightforward to me.
Of course, if Java had real generics, you could add these methods to the generic number class. Then the math functions wouldn't have to be in a separate class. But that's a different story. (yes, generics likely will be flawed when released, too, due to some design details concerning the JVM).
It seems I remember reading in a Wired issue a few months back about software the CIA was using for this purpose. Apparently, they are using the software to develop an idea of terrorist networks, the way they operate, and their command structure.
I believe the software packages the CIA uses are either developed internally or developed specifically for the CIA (read: not for public consumption). Sorry I can't give you any more details on this. It's been a while, and my memory isn't so good.
Re:Harmless, my eye!
on
Lunar Power
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· Score: 4, Insightful
Like I said, it is effectively a closed system.
The amount of energy radiated from the Earth is part of the system. Adding extra energy that is normally received by the Moon adds energy to the system that would not normally be there.
My point is that the Earth, as an effectivley closed system, has feedback systems that regulate the temperature. Yes, greenhouse gasses prevent the release of energy. However, historical sea level records (and other proxies for global temperatures) show that temperature fluctuations increase wildly immediately before ice ages. In fact, global temperatures increase several few degrees in a geologically short period of time (less than 1000 years) immediately before each ice age. This is one scientific argument behind people that claim we are not moving the Earth out of equilibrium (yes, some scientists are able to provide supporting evidence that we may be entering an ice age).
Adding any external input to an effectively closed system *does* have an effect on the current equilibrium. My question isn't whether it has an effect (it does), but rather how great the effect is. The amount of greenhouse gasses we are currently releasing is trivial compared to the gasses released during enormous volcanic eruptions. That doesn't mean we should wantonly release greenhouse gasses. Instead, we should view our acts as external inputs that may affect the equilibrium (by contrast, volcanic eruptions are a part of the system). My question is, "What effects would occur if we consumed all our energy from a source that is external to the system?" This will undoubtably have an effect. The effect may be insignificant compared to the amount of energy released from the Earth's core due to radioactive decay. I don't know.
If you have any evidence (supporting or contradicting), please let me know. But please don't give me pedantic definitions of a closed system that are irrelevant to the question at hand.
Re:Harmless, my eye!
on
Lunar Power
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· Score: 5, Informative
Most of the Sun's energy is released between 225nm and 3200nm (UV, just outside visible spectrum, through IR, quite a bit farther oustide the visible spectrum). The upper atmosphere absorbs most frequencies up to about 320nm (thank you, ozone layer). The lower atmosphere (i.e. clouds, humidity) absorbs a great deal of the energy above about 1100 nm.
The idea of having collectors on the moon is that on Earth the bulk of the Sun's spectrum is absorbed by the atmosphere. The moon has no atmosphere (ok, a negligble atmosphere). The entire spectrum can thus be collected, coverted to a narrow band frequency that has relatively low levels of absorption by the atmosphere, and beam it to Earth. Also, becuase the energy could be sent in a relatively narrow beam, the energy is easier to harnass without requiring sophisticated methods for focusing the beam (i.e. it's a lot easier to kill an ant with sunlight focused through a magnifying glass than it is to let unfocused sunlight to burn it).
Actually, all you're doing is moving the focusing aparatus to the moon. But, on the moon, it gets to focus light that has not been filtered by the atmosphere. Thus, the resulting yield will be higher than if the same operation is conducted in the Sahara Desert.
The concept makes perfect sense. It's not a logical kludge. However, I still have yet to see any sensitivity analysis conducted on the effects of adding additional energy to what is effectively a closed system. In other words, at least burning fossil fuels is harnassing energy already collected and stored by Earth. Adding energy that normally would not reach the Earth might force the system out of balance. Of course, the additional energy added to the system might be negligble compared to the energy transmitted directly to the Earth and the energy coming from our core (radioactive decay in our core? it's been a while...). I'm really curious to know how sensitive the Earth's system is to the addition of external energy sources.
Eh? I know a lot of people with wi-fi setups. Not one of them is a non-tech person. Wi-fi is still so new that only the techies get into it. And believe me, they realize the limitations of the technology. And if you're accessing the Internet over a DSL or cable modem, that 5 meg wireless link is plenty good enough.
Re:Titanium is also very flexible.
on
The Sexiest Metal
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· Score: 2
I don't know the properties of Ti off hand, but I think the original poster was trying to say it has good tensile strength relative to weight when compared to steel, but it doesn't have good sheering strength compared to steel. Your bike frame is made to distribute forces to act against the tensile strength and not the sheering string (cylindrical shapes, like on your bike tube, are good for this).
Why don't we simply hack the protocol used by Kazaa for this thing, then flood the system with false/bogus data? Kind of like a DoS to these guys. Or would that violate the DMCA? Can a protocol be considered a form of copy protection?
hehe...just a thought. Of course, I'd never actually spend any effort doing this, but I'd gladly join in if such a client were available.
You were going OK there for a while. However, you are a little incorect when you say that "government does not *give* us rights".
The government does not *give* us our *inalienable* rights. However, they do grant us our alienable (is that the right word? sounds funny) rights. Stuff like rights pertaining to contract law. Contract law is not built upon inalienable rights. But it does grant (and limit) rights to individuals.
The Bill of Rights isn't there to outline every right individuals have. It is only there to outline our inalienable rights. The rest is up to the courts and lawmakers to grant or take away. If lawmakers make laws that violate our inalienable rights, the Bill of Rights allows the justice system to overrule the laws. Thus, the inalienable rights remain inalienable.
However, the government most certainly does give us rights. Just as the Bill of Rights protects our inalienable rights.
Let's see. You told this guy to stop ranting. He said he wasn't ranting, that the evidence was there. You then told him to stop ranting, and that the evidence wasn't there. So he sites a bunch of sources that support his side. You tell him "it is common to claim that people who disagree with you have not read enough".
Hmmm. It is common to provide a non-sequitor and resort to name-calling when one is obviously losing an argument. Mr. Lindahl, your arguments are trite and consist of complete non-sequitors. Stop the name-calling (i.e. "child"). It doesn't add much to the discussion (nor does my reply, but I felt your comments warranted more than a simple moderation).
For the record, aminorex never stated that "the evidence is clear". Instead, he stated, "The evidence is there" and to "Get off the couch and go read the papers". He is not stating that the evidence is incontrovertable. He is merely stating there is a wide body of evidence that supports the claims of cold fusion.
Greg, your debating skills are weak and you retreat to simple name calling and the use of non-sequitors when you are losing. It is not aminorex that is dilluting this discussion; instead, it is you.
Ahem. I have to correct you on one point. Houston has the highest density of restaurants among cities in America, followed by Dallas (Sante Fe is still the king, but it's so small as to fall below size requirements for the survey I read). It's one of the few things Texas gets right. The food in Houston is quite good and cheap, with a wide variety of ethnic options. People from Houston also eat out more often than any other city in America (which is why there's so many restaurants).
But, other than that, I certainly agree with your references to San Fran. But Silicon Valley (Palo Alto and such) really is a suburban wasteland. If you focus on Silicon Valley and not the greater Bay Area, I think you may be able to claim a lack of culture. But even that is probably a stretch.
Re:Would have been great in College
on
Speed Reading?
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· Score: 3, Interesting
Well, I can identify, I think. No Ivy League, but a tough school. I can't read anything. OK. I made it through LOTR several times, and I loved the Hitchhiker's series. But I really can't make it through an entire book. I fall asleep mid-chapter, preventing me from reading a book (I keep having to re-read the same chapter). Oddly enough, I have no problems with school. Most of my reading at school can be broken up into 5-25 page bits. I can handle that (usually). I read very often. I read periodicals. The NY Times. The Economist. Not exactly light reading. And I read *tons* of technical manuals--again, I only need to read a few pages at a time. Maybe I have ADD. Whatever. But I sure wish I could read books. I haven't made it through a pleasure book in probably 5 years. It's a pitty. But I've probably read 100,000 pages of technical material and periodicals in that time. The 'net helps out, too--good for those of us with the MTV attention span.
OK. Let's get grounded for a minute here. What is just about the least reliable storage mechanism for data? Tape. What has been used for decades for data backup? Tape.
Backup media do not have to be the most reliable storage medium available. In fact, if you employ a regular backup schedule, rotating media and all, your backups can sustain loss of data on any particular tape without losing very much (if anything at all) due to redundancy. Backups are for redundancy, and as such don't need to be as reliable as the primary storage medium.
You may be sick of computer companies not backing their products. I'm sick of people demanding the world from suppliers while only being willing to pay $99.99, or $79.99 from Pricewatch (not a real price--just said for effect). Storage media fail. Some fail more often than others. Iomega has been guilty of peddling sub-par hardware, but then again, they offer it for sub-par prices. You get what you pay for.
Re:Grrr...100 _yards_ per hour!
on
Space Railroad
·
· Score: 2
Yes, and in many engineersing situations there is sufficient tolerance to handle 10% variations from spec. *Real* engineers are aware of specifications, knowing that real world parts vary from the specs. And they design around it.
I think 100m is close enough to 300ft that I will do the same conversion (and, yes, I actually am an engineer) in casual conversation, or on stories to slashdot. For God's sake, haven't you seen the spelling and grammar on Slashdot? With the English language being slaughtered so badly, you've got the nerve to complain about a 10% variance in a conversion from metric to Imperial? And then you try to act like you're some expert engineer? Get a life. Sorry for being so harsh, but your message really rubbed me the wrong way.
Oh, and for the record, the *exact* conversion from metric to Imperial is 2.54cm 1 inch. By definition.
Oh, I've got quite a bit of experience with the British rail system as well as with Amtrak. Yes, the UK rail system has had problems in the past year. These problems are embarassing, especially when comparing it to other European rail systems. But it is still miles ahead of Amtrak (unless you live in the northeast US, where Amtrak is basically a commuter line). In my experiences, any Amtrak trip that takes more than about 5 hours is guaranteed to be at least 1 day late. Yes, 1 day. Not 1 hour. And not because of worker strikes. It's just sheer incompetence, coupled with a lack of investment on maintaining lines. Yes, Amtrak is still the king of poor rail service.
Go after the child pornographer or the consumer of child pornography. Don't go after the ISP.
Inevitably, the government will end up blocking sites with questionably artisitic photographs rather than pornography (I remember a case concerning a photo gallery containing photos of a mother holding a nude 3-year old in her arms being labelled as pornography). Despite the opportunities for businesses to appeal their listing as pornography, this will lead to lost revenue, and more importantly, lost cash flow. In effect, this leads to censorship.
Why not go after consumers and producers of child pornography instead of going after the producer of the medium on which it is transmitted? Yes, it may less effective (I really doubt a blacklist is going to be an effective means of limiting child pornography, however). It won't, however, place new limits on the First Amendment, though.
p.s. I don't see this as analogous to a librarian that refuses to carry child pornography periodicals (or some such). In the case of the librarian, the periodicals must be actively purchased. In the case of the ISPs, they are acting as a medium. It is more akin to passing legislation preventing paper being sold to companies offering content that some deem as questionable.
p.p.s. My 'sig' seems especially appropriate today.
That drive contains moving parts. Moving parts fail. Unless gross negligence on the part of Iomega resulted in your data failure, I think you're not likely to get them to pay for the data. Furthermore, since the data was stored on a medium for which their is an expected failure rate (yes, they even publish when it is expected failure), I think they would argue you should have had the data backed up.
Good luck. But you should have been aware of potential failures in hard drives of all sorts, removable or not. I don't think you're likely to get very far on this one.
This is good news. Yes, Hubble is indeed one of NASA's greatest successes. Remember when it was first launched, though? Everyone was talking about what a lemon it was. What a turnaround.
By the way, isn't NASA supposed to launch a successor to the Hubble in 2006? Is that still in the plans? The Hubble is wonderful, but it was built in something like 1981 (after which it sat in storage for a decade, deforming the mirrors). Just think what can be done with technology from the 2000's.
How about CU-SeeMe? This is an old videoconferencing software developed at Carnegie Mellon in 1993. I haven't played with it in years, but it meets the free software requirements you ask, and supports Windows, Mac, and Linux.
They are upset because they offered log4j to Sun as part of the JCP to include in JDK1.4....and Sun rejected it, pushing their own implementation instead. The idea of the JCP being run by the community is a crock of shite. Sun has pushed a number of inferior standards through it, most of which are used more frequently than the superior product because many programmers are simply too lazy to use the superior product.
Stuff like logging APIs have enormous added value if everyone uses the same logging mechanism. Applications using multiple libraries that use disparate logging mechanisms are a mess. The result is people create kludges to integrate all of the various logging techniques so that they output to a single place. Sun's rejection of log4j will result in this happening.
Log4j is really better than Sun's. Oh well.
And nobody is upset that Sun didn't clone log4j. Everyone is upset because Sun didn't *take* log4j lock-stock-and-barrell. Apache/IBM offered it for the taking. The result is Not Good.
Hmm...I've heard the high-end amp and pre-amp with a pair of B&W Nautilus 801 speakers (not connected to an analog tape source, tho), and I can honestly tell you that the Nautilus speakers aren't that great. Give me a pair of Magnepan 1.6 speakers with a nice subwoofer any day. The B&W high-end line is extremely overrated. In fact, about the only really high-end speaker I've heard that isn't overrated IMHO are the Wilson Audio Watt/Puppy combination.
I don't like Avalon's speakers. The Martin Logan electrostat hybrids don't integrate well (except on their lowest-end speakers). The full-range ML speakers have too many compromises. Apogees are pretty nice (haven't heard them in some time, though). Quad ESL speakers are nice, but, again, to many compromises. Thiel makes some mighty fine speakers, as does Revel and ProAc. But, for my money, nothing comes even close to those beautiful Maggies.
The best one I have found (really the only viable one...HotJava simply sucks) is the one from IceSoft. But you included a link to that in your message.
It's got CSS, HTML v4.0, etc etc. It seems pretty decent, but truth be told I've only used it on a little pilot project I did a while back. I never actually purchased it--just used their demo license. It seemed reasonably OK.
Slashdot Mirror
You've got some good examples of inconsistencies. It would be nice if basic data types were objects. It would be nice if Integer and String weren't final. The iterator thing is nice, although it sounds to me like you've just read a C# book (really, a privately allocated local object isn't that awful, at least with modern garbage collectors). And the inconsistent naming of class methods is due to sloppy programming, although it would be nice if they enforced the get/set naming convention as a rule.
However, you can't get an absolute value of an Integer? Ever try Math.abs(Integer)? It takes the absolute value of an integer. Perhaps you wanted it back as an object? Well, since int is not an object, you can always wrap it inside another Integer. Like "new Integer(Math.abs(Integer))". In both clases, replace "Integer" with your Integer object. This may not have the syntactic sugar as some languages, but its exactly what goes on under the covers if ints are not objects. Seems pretty straightforward to me.
Of course, if Java had real generics, you could add these methods to the generic number class. Then the math functions wouldn't have to be in a separate class. But that's a different story. (yes, generics likely will be flawed when released, too, due to some design details concerning the JVM).
It seems I remember reading in a Wired issue a few months back about software the CIA was using for this purpose. Apparently, they are using the software to develop an idea of terrorist networks, the way they operate, and their command structure.
I believe the software packages the CIA uses are either developed internally or developed specifically for the CIA (read: not for public consumption). Sorry I can't give you any more details on this. It's been a while, and my memory isn't so good.
Like I said, it is effectively a closed system.
The amount of energy radiated from the Earth is part of the system. Adding extra energy that is normally received by the Moon adds energy to the system that would not normally be there.
My point is that the Earth, as an effectivley closed system, has feedback systems that regulate the temperature. Yes, greenhouse gasses prevent the release of energy. However, historical sea level records (and other proxies for global temperatures) show that temperature fluctuations increase wildly immediately before ice ages. In fact, global temperatures increase several few degrees in a geologically short period of time (less than 1000 years) immediately before each ice age. This is one scientific argument behind people that claim we are not moving the Earth out of equilibrium (yes, some scientists are able to provide supporting evidence that we may be entering an ice age).
Adding any external input to an effectively closed system *does* have an effect on the current equilibrium. My question isn't whether it has an effect (it does), but rather how great the effect is. The amount of greenhouse gasses we are currently releasing is trivial compared to the gasses released during enormous volcanic eruptions. That doesn't mean we should wantonly release greenhouse gasses. Instead, we should view our acts as external inputs that may affect the equilibrium (by contrast, volcanic eruptions are a part of the system). My question is, "What effects would occur if we consumed all our energy from a source that is external to the system?" This will undoubtably have an effect. The effect may be insignificant compared to the amount of energy released from the Earth's core due to radioactive decay. I don't know.
If you have any evidence (supporting or contradicting), please let me know. But please don't give me pedantic definitions of a closed system that are irrelevant to the question at hand.
Most of the Sun's energy is released between 225nm and 3200nm (UV, just outside visible spectrum, through IR, quite a bit farther oustide the visible spectrum). The upper atmosphere absorbs most frequencies up to about 320nm (thank you, ozone layer). The lower atmosphere (i.e. clouds, humidity) absorbs a great deal of the energy above about 1100 nm.
The idea of having collectors on the moon is that on Earth the bulk of the Sun's spectrum is absorbed by the atmosphere. The moon has no atmosphere (ok, a negligble atmosphere). The entire spectrum can thus be collected, coverted to a narrow band frequency that has relatively low levels of absorption by the atmosphere, and beam it to Earth. Also, becuase the energy could be sent in a relatively narrow beam, the energy is easier to harnass without requiring sophisticated methods for focusing the beam (i.e. it's a lot easier to kill an ant with sunlight focused through a magnifying glass than it is to let unfocused sunlight to burn it).
Actually, all you're doing is moving the focusing aparatus to the moon. But, on the moon, it gets to focus light that has not been filtered by the atmosphere. Thus, the resulting yield will be higher than if the same operation is conducted in the Sahara Desert.
The concept makes perfect sense. It's not a logical kludge. However, I still have yet to see any sensitivity analysis conducted on the effects of adding additional energy to what is effectively a closed system. In other words, at least burning fossil fuels is harnassing energy already collected and stored by Earth. Adding energy that normally would not reach the Earth might force the system out of balance. Of course, the additional energy added to the system might be negligble compared to the energy transmitted directly to the Earth and the energy coming from our core (radioactive decay in our core? it's been a while...). I'm really curious to know how sensitive the Earth's system is to the addition of external energy sources.
Eh? I know a lot of people with wi-fi setups. Not one of them is a non-tech person. Wi-fi is still so new that only the techies get into it. And believe me, they realize the limitations of the technology. And if you're accessing the Internet over a DSL or cable modem, that 5 meg wireless link is plenty good enough.
I don't know the properties of Ti off hand, but I think the original poster was trying to say it has good tensile strength relative to weight when compared to steel, but it doesn't have good sheering strength compared to steel. Your bike frame is made to distribute forces to act against the tensile strength and not the sheering string (cylindrical shapes, like on your bike tube, are good for this).
Why don't we simply hack the protocol used by Kazaa for this thing, then flood the system with false/bogus data? Kind of like a DoS to these guys. Or would that violate the DMCA? Can a protocol be considered a form of copy protection?
hehe...just a thought. Of course, I'd never actually spend any effort doing this, but I'd gladly join in if such a client were available.
You were going OK there for a while. However, you are a little incorect when you say that "government does not *give* us rights".
The government does not *give* us our *inalienable* rights. However, they do grant us our alienable (is that the right word? sounds funny) rights. Stuff like rights pertaining to contract law. Contract law is not built upon inalienable rights. But it does grant (and limit) rights to individuals.
The Bill of Rights isn't there to outline every right individuals have. It is only there to outline our inalienable rights. The rest is up to the courts and lawmakers to grant or take away. If lawmakers make laws that violate our inalienable rights, the Bill of Rights allows the justice system to overrule the laws. Thus, the inalienable rights remain inalienable.
However, the government most certainly does give us rights. Just as the Bill of Rights protects our inalienable rights.
Let's see. You told this guy to stop ranting. He said he wasn't ranting, that the evidence was there. You then told him to stop ranting, and that the evidence wasn't there. So he sites a bunch of sources that support his side. You tell him "it is common to claim that people who disagree with you have not read enough".
Hmmm. It is common to provide a non-sequitor and resort to name-calling when one is obviously losing an argument. Mr. Lindahl, your arguments are trite and consist of complete non-sequitors. Stop the name-calling (i.e. "child"). It doesn't add much to the discussion (nor does my reply, but I felt your comments warranted more than a simple moderation).
For the record, aminorex never stated that "the evidence is clear". Instead, he stated, "The evidence is there" and to "Get off the couch and go read the papers". He is not stating that the evidence is incontrovertable. He is merely stating there is a wide body of evidence that supports the claims of cold fusion.
Greg, your debating skills are weak and you retreat to simple name calling and the use of non-sequitors when you are losing. It is not aminorex that is dilluting this discussion; instead, it is you.
Don't we have interoperable standards now? What about SOAP? Doesn't this bring common solutions today?
XFree86 runs under Cygwin. It's quite nice. You can find their website here.
Ahem. I have to correct you on one point. Houston has the highest density of restaurants among cities in America, followed by Dallas (Sante Fe is still the king, but it's so small as to fall below size requirements for the survey I read). It's one of the few things Texas gets right. The food in Houston is quite good and cheap, with a wide variety of ethnic options. People from Houston also eat out more often than any other city in America (which is why there's so many restaurants).
But, other than that, I certainly agree with your references to San Fran. But Silicon Valley (Palo Alto and such) really is a suburban wasteland. If you focus on Silicon Valley and not the greater Bay Area, I think you may be able to claim a lack of culture. But even that is probably a stretch.
Well, I can identify, I think. No Ivy League, but a tough school. I can't read anything. OK. I made it through LOTR several times, and I loved the Hitchhiker's series. But I really can't make it through an entire book. I fall asleep mid-chapter, preventing me from reading a book (I keep having to re-read the same chapter). Oddly enough, I have no problems with school. Most of my reading at school can be broken up into 5-25 page bits. I can handle that (usually). I read very often. I read periodicals. The NY Times. The Economist. Not exactly light reading. And I read *tons* of technical manuals--again, I only need to read a few pages at a time. Maybe I have ADD. Whatever. But I sure wish I could read books. I haven't made it through a pleasure book in probably 5 years. It's a pitty. But I've probably read 100,000 pages of technical material and periodicals in that time. The 'net helps out, too--good for those of us with the MTV attention span.
OK. Let's get grounded for a minute here. What is just about the least reliable storage mechanism for data? Tape. What has been used for decades for data backup? Tape.
Backup media do not have to be the most reliable storage medium available. In fact, if you employ a regular backup schedule, rotating media and all, your backups can sustain loss of data on any particular tape without losing very much (if anything at all) due to redundancy. Backups are for redundancy, and as such don't need to be as reliable as the primary storage medium.
You may be sick of computer companies not backing their products. I'm sick of people demanding the world from suppliers while only being willing to pay $99.99, or $79.99 from Pricewatch (not a real price--just said for effect). Storage media fail. Some fail more often than others. Iomega has been guilty of peddling sub-par hardware, but then again, they offer it for sub-par prices. You get what you pay for.
Yes, and in many engineersing situations there is sufficient tolerance to handle 10% variations from spec. *Real* engineers are aware of specifications, knowing that real world parts vary from the specs. And they design around it.
I think 100m is close enough to 300ft that I will do the same conversion (and, yes, I actually am an engineer) in casual conversation, or on stories to slashdot. For God's sake, haven't you seen the spelling and grammar on Slashdot? With the English language being slaughtered so badly, you've got the nerve to complain about a 10% variance in a conversion from metric to Imperial? And then you try to act like you're some expert engineer? Get a life. Sorry for being so harsh, but your message really rubbed me the wrong way.
Oh, and for the record, the *exact* conversion from metric to Imperial is 2.54cm 1 inch. By definition.
Oh, I've got quite a bit of experience with the British rail system as well as with Amtrak. Yes, the UK rail system has had problems in the past year. These problems are embarassing, especially when comparing it to other European rail systems. But it is still miles ahead of Amtrak (unless you live in the northeast US, where Amtrak is basically a commuter line). In my experiences, any Amtrak trip that takes more than about 5 hours is guaranteed to be at least 1 day late. Yes, 1 day. Not 1 hour. And not because of worker strikes. It's just sheer incompetence, coupled with a lack of investment on maintaining lines. Yes, Amtrak is still the king of poor rail service.
Go after the child pornographer or the consumer of child pornography. Don't go after the ISP.
Inevitably, the government will end up blocking sites with questionably artisitic photographs rather than pornography (I remember a case concerning a photo gallery containing photos of a mother holding a nude 3-year old in her arms being labelled as pornography). Despite the opportunities for businesses to appeal their listing as pornography, this will lead to lost revenue, and more importantly, lost cash flow. In effect, this leads to censorship.
Why not go after consumers and producers of child pornography instead of going after the producer of the medium on which it is transmitted? Yes, it may less effective (I really doubt a blacklist is going to be an effective means of limiting child pornography, however). It won't, however, place new limits on the First Amendment, though.
p.s. I don't see this as analogous to a librarian that refuses to carry child pornography periodicals (or some such). In the case of the librarian, the periodicals must be actively purchased. In the case of the ISPs, they are acting as a medium. It is more akin to passing legislation preventing paper being sold to companies offering content that some deem as questionable.
p.p.s. My 'sig' seems especially appropriate today.
That drive contains moving parts. Moving parts fail. Unless gross negligence on the part of Iomega resulted in your data failure, I think you're not likely to get them to pay for the data. Furthermore, since the data was stored on a medium for which their is an expected failure rate (yes, they even publish when it is expected failure), I think they would argue you should have had the data backed up.
Good luck. But you should have been aware of potential failures in hard drives of all sorts, removable or not. I don't think you're likely to get very far on this one.
I hate to pick nits, but there's no such thing as liquid CO2 at 1 atm of pressure. Increase pressure and you can have liquid CO2.
This is good news. Yes, Hubble is indeed one of NASA's greatest successes. Remember when it was first launched, though? Everyone was talking about what a lemon it was. What a turnaround.
By the way, isn't NASA supposed to launch a successor to the Hubble in 2006? Is that still in the plans? The Hubble is wonderful, but it was built in something like 1981 (after which it sat in storage for a decade, deforming the mirrors). Just think what can be done with technology from the 2000's.
How about CU-SeeMe? This is an old videoconferencing software developed at Carnegie Mellon in 1993. I haven't played with it in years, but it meets the free software requirements you ask, and supports Windows, Mac, and Linux.
They are upset because they offered log4j to Sun as part of the JCP to include in JDK1.4....and Sun rejected it, pushing their own implementation instead. The idea of the JCP being run by the community is a crock of shite. Sun has pushed a number of inferior standards through it, most of which are used more frequently than the superior product because many programmers are simply too lazy to use the superior product.
Stuff like logging APIs have enormous added value if everyone uses the same logging mechanism. Applications using multiple libraries that use disparate logging mechanisms are a mess. The result is people create kludges to integrate all of the various logging techniques so that they output to a single place. Sun's rejection of log4j will result in this happening.
Log4j is really better than Sun's. Oh well.
And nobody is upset that Sun didn't clone log4j. Everyone is upset because Sun didn't *take* log4j lock-stock-and-barrell. Apache/IBM offered it for the taking. The result is Not Good.
Hmm...I've heard the high-end amp and pre-amp with a pair of B&W Nautilus 801 speakers (not connected to an analog tape source, tho), and I can honestly tell you that the Nautilus speakers aren't that great. Give me a pair of Magnepan 1.6 speakers with a nice subwoofer any day. The B&W high-end line is extremely overrated. In fact, about the only really high-end speaker I've heard that isn't overrated IMHO are the Wilson Audio Watt/Puppy combination.
I don't like Avalon's speakers. The Martin Logan electrostat hybrids don't integrate well (except on their lowest-end speakers). The full-range ML speakers have too many compromises. Apogees are pretty nice (haven't heard them in some time, though). Quad ESL speakers are nice, but, again, to many compromises. Thiel makes some mighty fine speakers, as does Revel and ProAc. But, for my money, nothing comes even close to those beautiful Maggies.
The best one I have found (really the only viable one...HotJava simply sucks) is the one from IceSoft. But you included a link to that in your message.
It's got CSS, HTML v4.0, etc etc. It seems pretty decent, but truth be told I've only used it on a little pilot project I did a while back. I never actually purchased it--just used their demo license. It seemed reasonably OK.
Did the seller send you a real-time confirmation of the sale? Hmm...I don't think this will count as prior art.