I was enlightened by your analysis, and congratulate your father on his clear observation. I'd say, come to Australia... but we have a citizen (just one, David Hicks) who is in Guantanamo Bay, and our Government is not doing a damn thing to get him out. So, it seems to me that our government is tarred with the same brush, a disturbing thought to this laid back Aussie.
If he can't get justice at the hands of your government, and can't get justice at the hands of our government, what's he to do?
I've been using Linux since I got a free copy of RedHat 5.2, first as a dual boot setup, and lately stand alone. I use distros that don't require command line anything, or at least that's the way it seems to me.
My current setup is a 2nd hand Dell laptop with Fedora Core 5 on it, although I usually use Mandrake/Mandriva. I'm not much of a tech, although I'm definitely not a newbie.
I work in a government department (in Australia) and when the next auction/disposal of "end of life" hardware happens at work, I'm going to offer "a free operating system" to anyone who wants it. Bet you I get almost no takers!
A "borrowed copy" of Windows is easier to use, because it's what they're used to.
... toggle the OFF switch! There, no electricity, no problem.
As long as we retain control at the most basic level, it doesn't matter how much the AI develops, or control systems get out of control or whatever scenario a futurologist can imagine, we can cut it off at the knees.
Bring back the 486! I knew what I was damn well doing with it.
As the sometimes helpful neighbour who gets a phone call "Can you come and look at..." I would love to convert some to Linux. But, they don't want to know, they have enough trouble understanding what Windows is doing, they don't want to start on something new/different. I've tried Knoppix discs for people, to give them a "taste", but that hasn't born fruit yet.
Guess we'll just have to soldier on for a while yet. I'm using Fedora Core 5 on a 2nd hand Dell Laptop.
Any song! If you have a particular favourite, do you want to buy a whole album/CD? No. This is why iTunes and the other download services have boomed. And now, the same generation have discovered... one song on a vinyl disc! Again, they pick up their favourite song (maybe get an interesting flipside too) so they're getting the _same_ choice.
I work for a government office that uses a similar scanner, every document is scanned at 200dpi, strictly Black & White (not greyscale or colour) at roughly 60% contrast, and each individual page is (about) a 70kb *.tif file. The documents are readable, and officially deemed of a sufficient archive quality.
Go with a scanner + sheet feeder!
Transcript of Interview (ABC Australia)
on
Steve Irwin Dead
·
· Score: 1
for those interested, transcript of interview in 2003:
Not likely I think, since it was his own crew who were shooting the video.
The police and a local coroner (sort of a judge who investigates sudden deaths) have viewed the tape, and have announced publicly there is no further cause to investigate.
His mate told the world on TV, that just before his death, Steve Irwin had told him he'd just had the best month of his life. He also told everyone, that when the stingray struck him, Steve pulled the barb out, and then "was gone".
It seems to have been a momentary misjudgement, by a very savvy wildlife handler, and the stingray actually changed direction under him, and then lashed out.
I'm in Australia, by the way, sort of half way between where he died, and where he lived. We're getting this stuff all over our news bulletins, so maybe he has got the recognition in death, that Aussies were reluctant to give him during his life.
I don't download music, movies or anything of the sort, mostly because I have a slow ADSL connection, and not much interest anyway. I buy almost no music CDs, movies or whatever, because, listening to/watching all the "Anti Piracy" rants, the DRM warnings & fiascos like Sony DRM on their CDs, the "I-want-to-download" rants, I don't want to get caught in the middle of all the Big Business -v- Users action, and the legally available CD/DVDs are usually pricey. I've been watching all this stuff for what feels like years, and it's seriously off-putting. I'd love to hear if anyone knows how many people simply don't bother for those reasons. I'm in Australia, by the way.
I'm a sort of unpaid, semi-official 1st level support guy (like has been referred to in other posts here), called a Computer Liaison Officer (I kid you not).
There are a few of us around... the office geeks, if you will... but official recognition of my role was most welcome when the scheme was started years ago.
I spend most of my days actually doing basic document checking/data entry/acceptance type work for a governement department (in Australia) but my colleagues know that if they strike a problem, they can come and ask me a question or get me to look at their PC, to make an initial assesment.
If I can't fix it or don't understand it within 2 to 3 minutes, I'll tell them to phone the IT guys on the 4th floor. Often if it's something simple... it is fixed within that 2 or 3 minute time frame, and we all get back to what we were doing.
It has taken training of all users, by repeated requests of "what was on the screen when it stopped working?" "what was the error message?" etc. but most of them know how valuable information of this sort is now.
I believe that a part of that job is to share as much knowledge as the users are prepared to take on, sometimes not a lot, but any they take on board helps.
I also get listened to, if I think there's something worth whinging about to the IT guys, we have a couple of "email forums" for discussions of tech issues etc. so the communication channels are open and working.
So I guess the key points I'm trying to make are:
1. Resources are not only time/money, people who know enough to share the load are an asset, treat them that way... if your management can acknowledge the help "power-users" "geeks" and such like people can render at a pinch, it's all good.
2. Communicate! the more people know, the more they can help themselves+each other+you.
I work for the Queensland (state of Australia) government. All computers do not have games installed on them, as a matter of policy for some years now. Of course, just about everybody knows how to "install" something to wile away their spare time...
One man who was hired as an IT support officer couldn't leave his favourite game alone, and was constantly being "found" playing.
Couldn't help people with problems, couldn't take the time to find a solution for them, but could rush back to his cubicle to recommence playing whatever it was. He got warned and warned again... and eventually told "don't come Monday".
We are allowed "reasonable personal use" of the Internet as a matter of policy, so the idea that we have to keep our "noses to the grind-stone" doesn't apply, but abuse of a privelege is still too much for most managers/supervisors.
Way back when I used MSDOS 5 or 6, I remember installing the AntiVirus product that Micro$oft had so kindly included. No updates, uless you subscribed, but hey, it had a list of hundreds, even thousands of viruses. At which point in time there was news of roughly 50,000 viruses "in the wild".
The firewall included with Windows XP would be the first thing I turned off, if I actually ever bothered to buy it, because I'd be installing a 3rd party Internet Security suite before my PC got anywhere near the internet.
Who is going to believe an AV product included with "Vista" is worth the trouble?
When I was in school, a long time ago (like Miow) I was taught basic Maths, Reading, Writing (hated that, glad I learnt to type)... and some basic problem solving skills. No such thing as a calculator on my desk, let alone a PC:-). I've since bought many a pocket calculator. I've bought the occasional PC too. I've had to learn to use both, because nobody was going to teach me. I learnt to use the calculator by applying the mathematics I learnt in school. What a surprise!... this machine makes calculations easy, as long as you know what you are calculating. I've learnt to use PCs so well, I now help work colleagues and friends with PC problems. I've even learnt to use Linux (SuSE Pro 9.3 on this PC). The most surprising thing for me, was a workmate who was doing an Accountancy course, but didn't know how to do a basic proportian sum. If 6 apples cost $4.80, how much for 10? This was some years ago, and as far as I know, schooling has got no better. I use the word schooling deliberately, since I think calling it education is an acceptance of how complicated and confusing it's got. Let's go back to some basic schooling for everyone... and yes, that might mean "1+1=2, 1+2=3, 1+3=4..."
Don't forget that developments in filesharing programs mean they probably aren't even seeing the tip of the iceberg anymore.
What they probably "measured" was the "tip of the tip", those users too uncaring to get off server based sharing, or not aware that there are fileshare programs that don't have a centralised server, but simply connect peer-to-peer.
So IFPI are patting themselves on the back, feeling all self-congratulatory... and don't even know the current extent of file-sharing, because they can't.
As for movies : DVD drives have recently taken off (locally here in this part of the world) why use filesharing, when you can rent a DVD and burn a copy?
I haven't had the problems you've had with ignorance by users, but I have spent a long time explaining to my friends what went wrong and why. I've actually succeeded in getting some to buy an antivirus/firewall product... but they still want to know if I have a Windows disk they can use to run the cheap second-hand hardware they bought. So the conversation has recently turned to why Windows XP can't be used on more than one computer. They think I'm using the word "authentication" as a substitute swear-word.
Aussies are a peculiar mix when it comes to technology: we had more fax machines per capita in Australia, than the rest of the world, for a long time, possibly because if you know enough to dial a phone, you can use a fax machine successfully.
But actually install an O/S on a PC? Hear the hollow echo...
I only see most of these things in the newsletter, so I'm generally a day behind, evidenced by 1042 comments on this subject. I recently Moderated for the first or second time, and I used 3 of my 5 points to mark down some personal attacks on a complete stranger : they were totally off-topic, and possibly even semi-criminal. As far as "personal web page links" are concerned, I don't have any trouble telling the difference between someones webpage, and a newspapers or "news websites" page. Maybe I'm missing something. I enjoy the "digest" email newsletter I get from you guys every day, but I don't always follow any & every link. I really don't see any of this as a problem.
what is wrong with presenting scientific ideas which demonstrate weaknesses in current theory?
Do you know that "Scientific Method" means that an experiment can be repeated, and thus
proven, by someone else? The second experimenter takes the hypothesis, sets up his/her own experiment, and makes their own observations. Whether their results confirm or vary from the original, they publish their findings.
If you are suggesting "Intelligent Design" has been through this process of independant experimentation and discovery, I'd sure appreciate a link to the scientific journal it was published in.
I read the article in my Sunday paper (I'm well north of Gippsland) and the first thing that struck me was how sharply focused the "Great Hunter" and the background was... and how fuzzy the "Monster Cat/Puma/Beast" was.
Ever seen a fishermans "prize catch"? A herring held real close to the camera lens looks just like the Great White Shark out of the Jaws Movie.
Back in the dim dark ages of my youth, I installed MS-DOS 5.0 or 6.0 with it's very own AntiVirus product built in : it was totally useless as there were no updates available unless you subscribed, so it was seriously outdated by the time I got my hands on it.
What makes anyone think they're going to do any better this time around?
Micro$oft have touted a subscription model for software in the past, they would probably try it again for this, and I will bet my bottom dollar they will fail again because of the same consumer resistance they struck last time.
Let me explain to you about "spring water" oh thou naive one... the tap they get it out of is way bigger than yours, but sourced from the same pipeline!
Slashdot Mirror
I was enlightened by your analysis, and congratulate your father on his clear observation. ... but we have a citizen (just one, David Hicks) who is in Guantanamo Bay, and our Government is not doing a damn thing to get him out. So, it seems to me that our government is tarred with the same brush, a disturbing thought to this laid back Aussie.
1 709428.htm
I'd say, come to Australia
If he can't get justice at the hands of your government, and can't get justice at the hands of our government, what's he to do?
His only defence is his military lawyer, Major Michael Mori who was interviewed recently on a chat show here in Australia
http://www.abc.net.au/tv/enoughrope/transcripts/s
I've been using Linux since I got a free copy of RedHat 5.2, first as a dual boot setup, and lately stand alone. I use distros that don't require command line anything, or at least that's the way it seems to me.
My current setup is a 2nd hand Dell laptop with Fedora Core 5 on it, although I usually use Mandrake/Mandriva. I'm not much of a tech, although I'm definitely not a newbie.
I work in a government department (in Australia) and when the next auction/disposal of "end of life" hardware happens at work, I'm going to offer "a free operating system" to anyone who wants it.
Bet you I get almost no takers!
A "borrowed copy" of Windows is easier to use, because it's what they're used to.
... toggle the OFF switch!
There, no electricity, no problem.
As long as we retain control at the most basic level, it doesn't matter how much the AI develops, or control systems get out of control or whatever scenario a futurologist can imagine, we can cut it off at the knees.
Bring back the 486! I knew what I was damn well doing with it.
As the sometimes helpful neighbour who gets a phone call "Can you come and look at ..." I would love to convert some to Linux. But, they don't want to know, they have enough trouble understanding what Windows is doing, they don't want to start on something new/different. I've tried Knoppix discs for people, to give them a "taste", but that hasn't born fruit yet.
Guess we'll just have to soldier on for a while yet.
I'm using Fedora Core 5 on a 2nd hand Dell Laptop.
Any song! If you have a particular favourite, do you want to buy a whole album/CD? ... one song on a vinyl disc!
No. This is why iTunes and the other download services have boomed.
And now, the same generation have discovered
Again, they pick up their favourite song (maybe get an interesting flipside too) so they're getting the _same_ choice.
I work for a government office that uses a similar scanner, every document is scanned at 200dpi, strictly Black & White (not greyscale or colour) at roughly 60% contrast, and each individual page is (about) a 70kb *.tif file. The documents are readable, and officially deemed of a sufficient archive quality.
Go with a scanner + sheet feeder!
for those interested, transcript of interview in 2003:
1 732743.htm
... the interviewer sits back and lets people talk.
http://www.abc.net.au/tv/enoughrope/transcripts/s
The program is called "Enough Rope"
Not likely I think, since it was his own crew who were shooting the video.
The police and a local coroner (sort of a judge who investigates sudden deaths) have viewed the tape, and have announced publicly there is no further cause to investigate.
His mate told the world on TV, that just before his death, Steve Irwin had told him he'd just had the best month of his life. He also told everyone, that when the stingray struck him, Steve pulled the barb out, and then "was gone".
It seems to have been a momentary misjudgement, by a very savvy wildlife handler, and the stingray actually changed direction under him, and then lashed out.
I'm in Australia, by the way, sort of half way between where he died, and where he lived.
We're getting this stuff all over our news bulletins, so maybe he has got the recognition in death, that Aussies were reluctant to give him during his life.
I don't download music, movies or anything of the sort, mostly because I have a slow ADSL connection, and not much interest anyway.
I buy almost no music CDs, movies or whatever, because, listening to/watching all the "Anti Piracy" rants, the DRM warnings & fiascos like Sony DRM on their CDs, the "I-want-to-download" rants, I don't want to get caught in the middle of all the Big Business -v- Users action, and the legally available CD/DVDs are usually pricey.
I've been watching all this stuff for what feels like years, and it's seriously off-putting. I'd love to hear if anyone knows how many people simply don't bother for those reasons.
I'm in Australia, by the way.
If they refuse to believe in evolution, they won't recognise their own de-volution when it kicks in. ... ?
Did I say when
Or maybe they just need to elect the Flying Spaghetti Monster as their next president!
http://flyingspaghettimonster.org/
Puppy Linux (or PuppyOS) at http://www.puppyos.com/
First time I encountered it, it was 35MB.
for Bill Gates at Microsoft : Richard Stallman! ...
Wouldn't there be some fur flying
I'm a sort of unpaid, semi-official 1st level support guy (like has been referred to in other posts here), called a Computer Liaison Officer (I kid you not).
... the office geeks, if you will ... but official recognition of my role was most welcome when the scheme was started years ago.
... it is fixed within that 2 or 3 minute time frame, and we all get back to what we were doing.
... if your management can acknowledge the help "power-users" "geeks" and such like people can render at a pinch, it's all good.
There are a few of us around
I spend most of my days actually doing basic document checking/data entry/acceptance type work for a governement department (in Australia) but my colleagues know that if they strike a problem, they can come and ask me a question or get me to look at their PC, to make an initial assesment.
If I can't fix it or don't understand it within 2 to 3 minutes, I'll tell them to phone the IT guys on the 4th floor. Often if it's something simple
It has taken training of all users, by repeated requests of "what was on the screen when it stopped working?" "what was the error message?" etc. but most of them know how valuable information of this sort is now.
I believe that a part of that job is to share as much knowledge as the users are prepared to take on, sometimes not a lot, but any they take on board helps.
I also get listened to, if I think there's something worth whinging about to the IT guys, we have a couple of "email forums" for discussions of tech issues etc. so the communication channels are open and working.
So I guess the key points I'm trying to make are:
1. Resources are not only time/money, people who know enough to share the load are an asset, treat them that way
2. Communicate! the more people know, the more they can help themselves+each other+you.
I work for the Queensland (state of Australia) government. All computers do not have games installed on them, as a matter of policy for some years now. ...
... and eventually told "don't come Monday".
Of course, just about everybody knows how to "install" something to wile away their spare time
One man who was hired as an IT support officer couldn't leave his favourite game alone, and was constantly being "found" playing.
Couldn't help people with problems, couldn't take the time to find a solution for them, but could rush back to his cubicle to recommence playing whatever it was. He got warned and warned again
We are allowed "reasonable personal use" of the Internet as a matter of policy, so the idea that we have to keep our "noses to the grind-stone" doesn't apply, but abuse of a privelege is still too much for most managers/supervisors.
Way back when I used MSDOS 5 or 6, I remember installing the AntiVirus product that Micro$oft had so kindly included. No updates, uless you subscribed, but hey, it had a list of hundreds, even thousands of viruses. At which point in time there was news of roughly 50,000 viruses "in the wild".
The firewall included with Windows XP would be the first thing I turned off, if I actually ever bothered to buy it, because I'd be installing a 3rd party Internet Security suite before my PC got anywhere near the internet.
Who is going to believe an AV product included with "Vista" is worth the trouble?
When I was in school, a long time ago (like Miow) I was taught basic Maths, Reading, Writing (hated that, glad I learnt to type) ... and some basic problem solving skills. No such thing as a calculator on my desk, let alone a PC :-). ... this machine makes calculations easy, as long as you know what you are calculating. ... and yes, that might mean "1+1=2, 1+2=3, 1+3=4 ..."
I've since bought many a pocket calculator. I've bought the occasional PC too. I've had to learn to use both, because nobody was going to teach me.
I learnt to use the calculator by applying the mathematics I learnt in school. What a surprise!
I've learnt to use PCs so well, I now help work colleagues and friends with PC problems. I've even learnt to use Linux (SuSE Pro 9.3 on this PC).
The most surprising thing for me, was a workmate who was doing an Accountancy course, but didn't know how to do a basic proportian sum. If 6 apples cost $4.80, how much for 10? This was some years ago, and as far as I know, schooling has got no better. I use the word schooling deliberately, since I think calling it education is an acceptance of how complicated and confusing it's got. Let's go back to some basic schooling for everyone
Don't forget that developments in filesharing programs mean they probably aren't even seeing the tip of the iceberg anymore.
... and don't even know the current extent of file-sharing, because they can't.
What they probably "measured" was the "tip of the tip", those users too uncaring to get off server based sharing, or not aware that there are fileshare programs that don't have a centralised server, but simply connect peer-to-peer.
So IFPI are patting themselves on the back, feeling all self-congratulatory
As for movies : DVD drives have recently taken off (locally here in this part of the world) why use filesharing, when you can rent a DVD and burn a copy?
I haven't had the problems you've had with ignorance by users, but I have spent a long time explaining to my friends what went wrong and why. I've actually succeeded in getting some to buy an antivirus/firewall product ... but they still want to know if I have a Windows disk they can use to run the cheap second-hand hardware they bought.
...
:-)
So the conversation has recently turned to why Windows XP can't be used on more than one computer. They think I'm using the word "authentication" as a substitute swear-word.
Aussies are a peculiar mix when it comes to technology: we had more fax machines per capita in Australia, than the rest of the world, for a long time, possibly because if you know enough to dial a phone, you can use a fax machine successfully.
But actually install an O/S on a PC? Hear the hollow echo
P.S. posted using SuSE Linux 9.3
I only see most of these things in the newsletter, so I'm generally a day behind, evidenced by 1042 comments on this subject.
I recently Moderated for the first or second time, and I used 3 of my 5 points to mark down some personal attacks on a complete stranger : they were totally off-topic, and possibly even semi-criminal.
As far as "personal web page links" are concerned, I don't have any trouble telling the difference between someones webpage, and a newspapers or "news websites" page.
Maybe I'm missing something. I enjoy the "digest" email newsletter I get from you guys every day, but I don't always follow any & every link.
I really don't see any of this as a problem.
Sounds like a fun waste of time, maybe we should all go there daily! Then again, I don't do P2P ... do you think they'll know the difference?
Transferbangle? I don't know where the author got it from, but I've never heard of it, in 49 years, as a born & bred Aussie.
what is wrong with presenting scientific ideas which demonstrate weaknesses in current theory?
Do you know that "Scientific Method" means that an experiment can be repeated, and thus proven, by someone else? The second experimenter takes the hypothesis, sets up his/her own experiment, and makes their own observations. Whether their results confirm or vary from the original, they publish their findings.
If you are suggesting "Intelligent Design" has been through this process of independant experimentation and discovery, I'd sure appreciate a link to the scientific journal it was published in.
I read the article in my Sunday paper (I'm well north of Gippsland) and the first thing that struck me was how sharply focused the "Great Hunter" and the background was ... and how fuzzy the "Monster Cat/Puma/Beast" was.
Ever seen a fishermans "prize catch"? A herring held real close to the camera lens looks just like the Great White Shark out of the Jaws Movie.
Panther? Puma? Porcine Avionics!
Back in the dim dark ages of my youth, I installed MS-DOS 5.0 or 6.0 with it's very own AntiVirus product built in : it was totally useless as there were no updates available unless you subscribed, so it was seriously outdated by the time I got my hands on it.
What makes anyone think they're going to do any better this time around?
Micro$oft have touted a subscription model for software in the past, they would probably try it again for this, and I will bet my bottom dollar they will fail again because of the same consumer resistance they struck last time.
Let me explain to you about "spring water" oh thou naive one ... the tap they get it out of is way bigger than yours, but sourced from the same pipeline!