Heh, first time I've heard that one. Funny that it's the female demographic too...
"No, give me the smaller one"
Actually, that makes perfect sense. It's male buyers that seem to be obsessed with buying the biggest model available.
"Gimme the Yukon! With the HEMI! Grunt! Grunt! Five miles to the gallon? Fuck it, gimme it anyway! Grunt! Grunt! Gimme a bigger one!"
The irony of course, is that the bigger truck actually makes their penis look smaller in comparison. If they feel inferior in that regard, they should be buying a Geo Metro instead.
"Look at my penis next to this Metro! It's enormous!!!"
Do you touch their keyboards and mice when helping them?
I rarely, if ever, have to visit a user's desk (that's what the Helpdesk is for). But on those rare occassions that I have to touch someone else's mouse or keyboard, I do go to the restroom immediately afterwards and wash my hands. Not so much because of fecal matter, but because I hate being sick, and sharing a mouse and then rubbing your eyes, picking your nose, or wiping your mouth is a great way to get a cold or flu virus.
In fact, there was an interesting article on CNN's website about how the average office desk, phone, keyboard, and mouse have about 400 times more germs on them than a toilet seat. Dunno, maybe plumbers are better off after all...
But then again, very few plumbers have to deal with users who consistently download BonziBuddy, blindly click on suspicious email attachments and use their cd trays as cupholders.
No, plumbers just have to deal with clogged toilets and backed up septic systems. Think I'll keep my admin job, thanks. I may have to deal with a lot of bullshit, but at least there's no human excrement involved.
That wrist PDA is a nice idea, but it's not quite there as far as I'm concerned. First, like a lot of people, I don't wear a wristwatch anymore. I have a cellphone most of the time, and it has a nice external LCD display with a clock. When I'm not carrying my phone, I prefer a pocket watch to a wrist watch. Basically, I just don't like bulky shit on my wrists, as it gets unfortable when you are typing on a keyboard (something I do a lot of).
So if someone wants to introduce a wrist PDA that I would buy, they need to make it thin, light, and unobtrusive enough to get around my dislike of wrist-based devices. This model from Toshiba definitely doesn't fit the bill (and it looks like more concept than reality at this point, anyway).
Personally, I could see buying a wrist-based cellphone/pda with a bluetooth headset, but only if they could get the entire unit under 5mm in thickness and keep the weight under 100 grams. Basically, I want it to fit under a shirtsleeve, and be light enough that I can forget it's there. Of course, it should also have an integrated videophone. And it would have to have some sort of clamshell design with an armored lid to protect the screen.
So I guess I'll be buying mine around 2012 or so.
Marketshare falling.. oh, really? I hadn't noticed
on
Why iPod Can't Save Apple
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· Score: 2, Interesting
reduced CPU sales (resulting a shrinking marketshare)
I've got two Al PowerBooks and two iMacs, all purchased within the last 12 months, that tell a different story. I've made the switch to the Apple platform for my desktop machines, and two of my friends have both declared that their next computer will definitely be a Mac. People at my office are now looking at Apple in a different light, because they see Apple hardware being delivered to my desk. They are interested, curious. Switching is contagious.
I was at the Apple Store opening at Southpark Mall in Charlotte, NC. The line was so long you couldn't even get in the door. The next day, people were milling around out front at 9:00am (the store opens at 10:00am), and within 15 minutes after the store opened, it was full of people trying out Apple stuff - and making purchases.
From out here in the field, it doesn't look like Apple marketshare is falling.
What does bug me, is the NRA claiming that virtually ANY weapon is legal under nearly any conditions.... What bugs me most is that the NRA doesn't seem able to accept any reasonable restrictions on any firearm.
I think what you are failing to understand is that criminals do not obey gun laws. By definition, only law-abiding citizens obey laws. If you ban assault weapons, or automatic weapons, or drum-fed shotguns, or fruit-flavored bubblegun, the only people who will obey the ban are people who obey laws. And they aren't the ones you are worried about having firearms in the first place.
A criminal who has decided to rob a bank, or a terrorist who has decided to hold a schoolbus full of children hostage, is not going to say "gee, I wish I could use an automatic weapon but they're illegal. I'd better use a bolt-action hunting rifle instead, or I might get in trouble." If you've decided that you're prepared to commit murder, what do you care about a federal firearms violation?
Of course, gun control advocates offer up the premise that by making something illegal to possess, you can get it off the street and out of the hands of criminals. Yes, because that has worked so well for cocaine.
I also think that your view of the NRA's politics is somewhat skewed. I'm an NRA member, and I can tell you that the NRA is not about the complete abolition of gun laws. The NRA has the position that the Second Amendment to the Constitution of the United States guarantees the right of individual citizens to keep and possess firearms, and that this right should not be infringed. However, the NRA also takes the position that the term "the People" should be interpretted to mean the law-abiding, adult populance, and not *anyone* (as in criminals, the insane, children, etc). The NRA clearly advocates reasonable measures to prevent criminals from obtaining firearms, provided that these measures do not infringe upon the rights of law-abiding citizens.
Gun show loopholes are huge and ought to be closed.
The "gun show loophole" is a mythical boogie-man that gun control advocates like to flog from time to time to get headlines. Gun laws vary from state to state, but any sale that takes place at a gun show has to obey the laws of the state where it takes place. For example, in my state it is legal for an individual to sell a longgun (rifle/shotgun) to another individual without an exchange of paperwork. However, the sale of a handgun requires that the buyer present a handgun purchase permit, and that the seller maintain that permit with a record of sale. This law applies whether the sale takes place at a gun show, or in my livingroom. In one of my neighboring states, any firearm can be sold between individuals without an exchange of paperwork. This isn't a loophole, it's the just the law in that state.
"Street-sweeper" drum fed shotguns don't have any real legitimate purpose.
"Street-sweeper" is one of those sensationalist labels the media uses to grab audience. Any magazine-fed firearm, be it hunting rifle or an assault weapon can be "drum-fed". A drum is just a high-capacity magazine. As to legitimate, define that term. To me, any law-abiding, non-criminal purpose is "legitimate". If I want to load up 50 shells in a drum mag and go shoot at popups on the range with my shotgun because it's fun, isn't that a legitimate use?
It seems the NRA (and like supporters) can't see or accept any middle-ground that might eliminate weapons or practices that are clearly taking people's lives.
Are you aware that the annual number of firearms-related deaths in the United States is roughly a quarter of the number of deaths attributed to highway traffic accidents, and less than that of several childhood diseases? Or that over 90% of all persons (both shooter and victim) involved in a non-police shooting have a prior criminal record? The problem is not one of dangerous weapons in the hands of ordin
An AR-15 (or other "civilian" equivalent of a Military assault rifles) lack an automatic capability because there is a catch in the receiver. File off the catch and you have a machine gun.
Okay, you clearly have no idea what you are talking about. First of, that "catch" is called a disconnector. The purpose of the disconnector is to grab the hammer after a round has been fired and while the trigger is still depressed. The purpose of this is to prevent the hammer from cycling forward again until the bolt is securely seated in the chamber with a new round.
Yes, on a fully automatic weapon, the disconnector is disengaged when the selector switch is set to Auto. HOWEVER, there is another part called the sear which serves the same purpose as the disconnector. The only difference between the disconnector and the sear, is that the sear is automatically released as the bolt is seated and the disconnector is not.
Now, if someone decided to convert their semi-auto AR-15 to full auto by filing down the disconnector, they would in fact succeed in acquiring a fully automatic weapon. However, their success would be short-lived, as the weapon would be slam-firing. This means that because the bolt is not given time to fully seat, the round is being discharged as the bolt is seating into the chamber. This will create a fully automatic weapon that is prone to blowing up in the shooter's face.
Not a real bright idea, eh?
People who illegally convert weapons like this have a tendency to solve the problem themselves. The best part is, when they wake up in the hospital with half their face missing, they still get to look forward to ten years in a federal prison for violating the 1986 ban on manufacturing full auto weapons for civilian use (conversion == manufacture).
Actual conversion of a semi-automatic AR-15 to a full-auto M16 requires the replacement of five specific parts, and the addition of a sixth (the sear). A factory AR-15 can accomodate all of the parts except the sear. However, to install the sear, the weapon requires significant re-milling (which itself requires proper tools and some very specific knowledge). Without the sear, you've got a fully automatic face-shredding federal firearms violation.
So, despite what you may have seen on alarmist
"news" reports or 60 Minutes specials on gun violence in America, it is neither easy to convert a civilian weapon to full auto, nor is it a rampant problem. If fact, if you read something other than Brady Foundation pamplets, you might find that before the 1994 Assault Weapon Ban, "assault weapons" were used in less than 2% of violent crimes in America (according to the FBI) and that rate has not changed in the 10 years since the ban went into affect. In other words, the law had no effect other than to infringe upon the rights of law-abiding U.S. citizens.
I might recommend that you try working for the government. The non-shooting parts are pretty much like all you describe, besides the "competent manager" bit, but you can't have everything.
I actually gave that some thought. I'm a previous government employee (I formerly did one of the "shooting parts":^), and at one time applied for a job at the DFAO and later a job with a local law enforcement agency (both "non-shooting" IT jobs). The only problem with government work is that, compared with the private sector, the pay scales seem a bit low. Then again, the benefits are usually better.
Anyway, my current job is pretty much everything I described: boring cube, cluttered desk, a computer less than a year old, and a steady paycheck. And my CEO is about as non-dot-com as they come. However, if in the future I'm once again pounding the pavement, I'll probably take another look at government service.
A coporation might stand out with a Tempest machine, but I think if I were interviewing with a firm and I saw Galaga & Ms. Pacman, I'd like to think that the handwriting was on the wall...
Frankly, if you interview for a position with a company and they show you *any* video games (or other dot-com trappings such as a "coffee bar") and tout them as employee benefits, I think it should serve as a red flag. Those kind of amenities are there for one reason: to convince employees to work for a company that they would normally run the hell away from. It's almost always compensation for some other business shortcomings (i.e. excruciatingly long hours, zero job security, a paper-thin business model, etc).
"I work 80 hour weeks, no overtime, the phones went out for 4 hours yesterday because we didn't pay the bill... but we've got free video games and lattes in the break room, and my boss is so cool, he drives a Hummer. This place is great!"
You know what? Just give me a boring old cube, a desk, a decent computer, and a steady paycheck with a company where I don't lie awake at night wondering if the doors will be open when I get there tomorrow. Oh, and some old curmudgeon of a boss who's been in business for 20 years and actually knows how to run a company.
[01-03-04 09:44:31] Beer Location: On the delivery truck.
[01-03-04 10:26:54] Beer Location: On the store loading dock.
[01-03-04 11:54:12] Beer Location: In the store refrigerator case.
[01-03-04 19:22:57] Beer Location: In customer's hand.
[01-03-04 19:24:03] Beer Location: On the store checkout counter.
[01-03-04 19:31:44] Beer Location: Outside the store.
[01-03-04 19:32:10] Container Event: Can opened.
[01-03-04 19:32:12] Beer Location: Inside customers mouth.
[01-03-04 19:32:12] Beer Location: Outside customers mouth.
[01-03-04 19:32:13] Beer Location: On the ground.
[01-03-04 19:32:17] Beer Location: In the gutter.
[01-03-04 19:32:23] Container Event: Can dropped.
And, as mentioned in the last article, the $500, 10-client version of Server is limited to 10 simultaneous clients on AFP. To get around this, pay double for the unlimited version, or use plain old Panther Client.
I saw this mentioned in comments to yesterday's review as well, so last night I checked this out on my home network. With the client version, you are limited to 10 AFP connections (it says so at the bottom of the window when you click on Personal File Sharing). It isn't unlimited. I'm not sure about Windows File Sharing (SMB), as I don't use it and didn't think to check.
But it still doesn't resolve the real problem which is that most of what the labels are selling is crap and grotesquely overpriced at that. People swapping all of that music is more a response to that than anything else.
I think the idea that "most of it is crap" is kind of an oversimplification. Really, the issue is one of *value*.
I think iTunes Music Store illustrates this point nicely. What are they at? 30 million songs purchased so far? Why, when you could get the material for free on P2P? Because people who purchased songs from iTMS felt that a legitimate, high (subjective) quality copy of a song they liked sold through an easy-to-use, easy-to-find interface with no waiting presented a value at the price of $0.99.
The problem with the music industry's current model isn't that everything is necessarily crap. It's simply that a growing number of consumers don't see a value in going to the store to buy a physical disc that often contains one good song and 14 filler tracks, at the sale price of $18.99. And no amount of cracking down on P2P is going to change that fundamental value equation.
If the record industry wanted to kill illegal file-swapping instantly, they could do it simply by offering up their entire catalog for online distribution at the price of $0.05 per track, with little or no DRM. Boom. Illegal file-sharing gone. Why bother with bad rips, mislabeled files, and long queues when you can pay a nickel and get a good copy of the right song with no waiting? The problem is, this doesn't hold with the industry's set pricing model of $1/song and the massive profit margin that comes with it. It's an industry blinded to reality by greed.
In 1991, a crack development unit was sent to prison by a software patent court for a crime they didn't commit. These men promptly escaped from a maximum security stockade to the Linux Expo underground. Today, still wanted by the government, they survive as coders of fortune. If someone rips off your code, if no one else can help, and if you can find them, maybe you can hire... the C-Team.
I guess your kids, at 100lbs total, passed out in their bedroom are fucking screwed then, eh?
You make the incorrect presumption that my wife and I have (or even want) children. However, in the nightmare bizarro realm where I would share my home with small, obnoxious people who drive me crazy and drain money from my wallet, then I would make *them* grab the hard drives on the way out the door. I'd be waiting for them in the yard.
Re:RAID and what happens if a drive in it goes bad
on
A Terabyte In A Cigar Box
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· Score: 4, Insightful
I personally would not feel comfortable with this device. They make no mention of how your data is protected if one of the drives in it goes bad.
Your data isn't any more protected on this drive than on any other hard drive.
With this device you probably have to send everything back to them to fix with no guarantee of data preservation.
Just like any other hard drive.
Even though this device "looks cool" I'll stick to the RAID system that I built in my fileserver at home. It holds almost as much data, costs less, and if something in it breaks I can fix it quickly without any loss of data.
A RAID array is not a backup solution. It's a fault tolerance solution. There are several scenarios where you could lose everything on even a RAID5 array (controller failure, multiple disk failure, etc). So your ability to "fix it quickly without any loss of data" is by no means certain.
But, I think you are missing a major point here: unlike your fileserver-based RAID array, this drive is small, quiet, and portable.
I currently have a bigass fileserver at home in a big, loud, power-sucking server case with 8 case fans and dual power supplies (and it sounds like a jet engine). It houses my video library (among other roles) on a 400GB RAID5 array built from six 80GB drives in hotswap drive cages connected to a Promise SX6000 controller. It was relatively cheap, it holds a lot of stuff, and I can replace faulty components off the shelf. It's great. Except for the noise and power requirements of having to house the thing in a big server.
I'm looking at this LaCie 1TB drive as a way to scale down my server to a desktop case just big enough to hold two mirrored system disks, a CD drive, and a DAT drive. The rest of my storage would be in external, self-contained drives.
As for backups, I backup my system disks (where the home directories live) nightly to DAT, but the data in my library (like most) is write once, ready many. I back up my data to DVD before it gets stored on the array, rendering periodic backups unnecessary. If the disk crashes and dies, no big deal. I just have to endure a few hours (days) of restoring files from DVD archives.
And in the event that my home catches fire, I can grab an external drive on the way out the door. Try that with a 100lb server.
I recently bought a LaCie 160GB firewire drive to house my ever-expanding music and photo library, and I was going to buy one of their 500GB firewire drives a few days ago, as my home video library is reaching the limits of the 400GB array where it is currently housed.
Man, am I glad I waited. The 500GB model was going to augment my array, but now I'll just wait and buy the 1TB drive as a replacement. I can ditch the very loud double-wide server case that houses the array, and skim down to a smaller box with quiet(er) external drives.
The whole world IS there just to satisfy our personal curiosity/restlessness/ambition/greed/whatever. If it weren't so then living wouldn't be fun anymore.
I disagree. I think the whole world is there to be shared with others, and part of that sharing is in allowing other people to maintain their private spaces, as you would wish to maintain your own. Curiosity and exploration can coexist with respect for others.
The chaos you describe - where people take what they want and tread where they wish without regard for others - is only "fun" when you are the one taking. Inevitably, you will find yourself on the other end of that transaction and your outlook on the situation will undoubtably change.
I agree with you except for one point. I don't think he should get the maximum sentence, which could be up to 20 years. Jail time yes, but maximum no.
Point taken. 20 years is excessive punishment for this crime. But I think I saw in the article that they had said "up to five years in prison" and I think a five year stretch would be appropriate. Basically, I just want to see him get more than a token six month sentence, or worse - probation.
Slashdot Mirror
Size Doesn't Matter?
Heh, first time I've heard that one. Funny that it's the female demographic too...
"No, give me the smaller one"
Actually, that makes perfect sense. It's male buyers that seem to be obsessed with buying the biggest model available.
"Gimme the Yukon! With the HEMI! Grunt! Grunt! Five miles to the gallon? Fuck it, gimme it anyway! Grunt! Grunt! Gimme a bigger one!"
The irony of course, is that the bigger truck actually makes their penis look smaller in comparison. If they feel inferior in that regard, they should be buying a Geo Metro instead.
"Look at my penis next to this Metro! It's enormous!!!"
If this is what you were doing prior to sitting at their keyboard, it's easy to see where all those germs are coming from.
Let he who is without eye crusties cast the first stone.
Do you touch their keyboards and mice when helping them?
I rarely, if ever, have to visit a user's desk (that's what the Helpdesk is for). But on those rare occassions that I have to touch someone else's mouse or keyboard, I do go to the restroom immediately afterwards and wash my hands. Not so much because of fecal matter, but because I hate being sick, and sharing a mouse and then rubbing your eyes, picking your nose, or wiping your mouth is a great way to get a cold or flu virus.
In fact, there was an interesting article on CNN's website about how the average office desk, phone, keyboard, and mouse have about 400 times more germs on them than a toilet seat. Dunno, maybe plumbers are better off after all...
But then again, very few plumbers have to deal with users who consistently download BonziBuddy, blindly click on suspicious email attachments and use their cd trays as cupholders.
No, plumbers just have to deal with clogged toilets and backed up septic systems. Think I'll keep my admin job, thanks. I may have to deal with a lot of bullshit, but at least there's no human excrement involved.
"Cash okay..?" <while reaching for his wallet>
That wrist PDA is a nice idea, but it's not quite there as far as I'm concerned. First, like a lot of people, I don't wear a wristwatch anymore. I have a cellphone most of the time, and it has a nice external LCD display with a clock. When I'm not carrying my phone, I prefer a pocket watch to a wrist watch. Basically, I just don't like bulky shit on my wrists, as it gets unfortable when you are typing on a keyboard (something I do a lot of).
So if someone wants to introduce a wrist PDA that I would buy, they need to make it thin, light, and unobtrusive enough to get around my dislike of wrist-based devices. This model from Toshiba definitely doesn't fit the bill (and it looks like more concept than reality at this point, anyway).
Personally, I could see buying a wrist-based cellphone/pda with a bluetooth headset, but only if they could get the entire unit under 5mm in thickness and keep the weight under 100 grams. Basically, I want it to fit under a shirtsleeve, and be light enough that I can forget it's there. Of course, it should also have an integrated videophone. And it would have to have some sort of clamshell design with an armored lid to protect the screen.
So I guess I'll be buying mine around 2012 or so.
reduced CPU sales (resulting a shrinking marketshare)
I've got two Al PowerBooks and two iMacs, all purchased within the last 12 months, that tell a different story. I've made the switch to the Apple platform for my desktop machines, and two of my friends have both declared that their next computer will definitely be a Mac. People at my office are now looking at Apple in a different light, because they see Apple hardware being delivered to my desk. They are interested, curious. Switching is contagious.
I was at the Apple Store opening at Southpark Mall in Charlotte, NC. The line was so long you couldn't even get in the door. The next day, people were milling around out front at 9:00am (the store opens at 10:00am), and within 15 minutes after the store opened, it was full of people trying out Apple stuff - and making purchases.
From out here in the field, it doesn't look like Apple marketshare is falling.
The only iPod killer the boys from Redmond could come up with would be a Microsoft-branded claw hammer (retailing for $149.95 most likely).
What does bug me, is the NRA claiming that virtually ANY weapon is legal under nearly any conditions. ... What bugs me most is that the NRA doesn't seem able to accept any reasonable restrictions on any firearm.
I think what you are failing to understand is that criminals do not obey gun laws. By definition, only law-abiding citizens obey laws. If you ban assault weapons, or automatic weapons, or drum-fed shotguns, or fruit-flavored bubblegun, the only people who will obey the ban are people who obey laws. And they aren't the ones you are worried about having firearms in the first place.
A criminal who has decided to rob a bank, or a terrorist who has decided to hold a schoolbus full of children hostage, is not going to say "gee, I wish I could use an automatic weapon but they're illegal. I'd better use a bolt-action hunting rifle instead, or I might get in trouble." If you've decided that you're prepared to commit murder, what do you care about a federal firearms violation?
Of course, gun control advocates offer up the premise that by making something illegal to possess, you can get it off the street and out of the hands of criminals. Yes, because that has worked so well for cocaine.
I also think that your view of the NRA's politics is somewhat skewed. I'm an NRA member, and I can tell you that the NRA is not about the complete abolition of gun laws. The NRA has the position that the Second Amendment to the Constitution of the United States guarantees the right of individual citizens to keep and possess firearms, and that this right should not be infringed. However, the NRA also takes the position that the term "the People" should be interpretted to mean the law-abiding, adult populance, and not *anyone* (as in criminals, the insane, children, etc). The NRA clearly advocates reasonable measures to prevent criminals from obtaining firearms, provided that these measures do not infringe upon the rights of law-abiding citizens.
Gun show loopholes are huge and ought to be closed.
The "gun show loophole" is a mythical boogie-man that gun control advocates like to flog from time to time to get headlines. Gun laws vary from state to state, but any sale that takes place at a gun show has to obey the laws of the state where it takes place. For example, in my state it is legal for an individual to sell a longgun (rifle/shotgun) to another individual without an exchange of paperwork. However, the sale of a handgun requires that the buyer present a handgun purchase permit, and that the seller maintain that permit with a record of sale. This law applies whether the sale takes place at a gun show, or in my livingroom. In one of my neighboring states, any firearm can be sold between individuals without an exchange of paperwork. This isn't a loophole, it's the just the law in that state.
"Street-sweeper" drum fed shotguns don't have any real legitimate purpose.
"Street-sweeper" is one of those sensationalist labels the media uses to grab audience. Any magazine-fed firearm, be it hunting rifle or an assault weapon can be "drum-fed". A drum is just a high-capacity magazine. As to legitimate, define that term. To me, any law-abiding, non-criminal purpose is "legitimate". If I want to load up 50 shells in a drum mag and go shoot at popups on the range with my shotgun because it's fun, isn't that a legitimate use?
It seems the NRA (and like supporters) can't see or accept any middle-ground that might eliminate weapons or practices that are clearly taking people's lives.
Are you aware that the annual number of firearms-related deaths in the United States is roughly a quarter of the number of deaths attributed to highway traffic accidents, and less than that of several childhood diseases? Or that over 90% of all persons (both shooter and victim) involved in a non-police shooting have a prior criminal record? The problem is not one of dangerous weapons in the hands of ordin
An AR-15 (or other "civilian" equivalent of a Military assault rifles) lack an automatic capability because there is a catch in the receiver. File off the catch and you have a machine gun.
Okay, you clearly have no idea what you are talking about. First of, that "catch" is called a disconnector. The purpose of the disconnector is to grab the hammer after a round has been fired and while the trigger is still depressed. The purpose of this is to prevent the hammer from cycling forward again until the bolt is securely seated in the chamber with a new round.
Yes, on a fully automatic weapon, the disconnector is disengaged when the selector switch is set to Auto. HOWEVER, there is another part called the sear which serves the same purpose as the disconnector. The only difference between the disconnector and the sear, is that the sear is automatically released as the bolt is seated and the disconnector is not.
Now, if someone decided to convert their semi-auto AR-15 to full auto by filing down the disconnector, they would in fact succeed in acquiring a fully automatic weapon. However, their success would be short-lived, as the weapon would be slam-firing. This means that because the bolt is not given time to fully seat, the round is being discharged as the bolt is seating into the chamber. This will create a fully automatic weapon that is prone to blowing up in the shooter's face.
Not a real bright idea, eh?
People who illegally convert weapons like this have a tendency to solve the problem themselves. The best part is, when they wake up in the hospital with half their face missing, they still get to look forward to ten years in a federal prison for violating the 1986 ban on manufacturing full auto weapons for civilian use (conversion == manufacture).
Actual conversion of a semi-automatic AR-15 to a full-auto M16 requires the replacement of five specific parts, and the addition of a sixth (the sear). A factory AR-15 can accomodate all of the parts except the sear. However, to install the sear, the weapon requires significant re-milling (which itself requires proper tools and some very specific knowledge). Without the sear, you've got a fully automatic face-shredding federal firearms violation.
So, despite what you may have seen on alarmist "news" reports or 60 Minutes specials on gun violence in America, it is neither easy to convert a civilian weapon to full auto, nor is it a rampant problem. If fact, if you read something other than Brady Foundation pamplets, you might find that before the 1994 Assault Weapon Ban, "assault weapons" were used in less than 2% of violent crimes in America (according to the FBI) and that rate has not changed in the 10 years since the ban went into affect. In other words, the law had no effect other than to infringe upon the rights of law-abiding U.S. citizens.
I might recommend that you try working for the government. The non-shooting parts are pretty much like all you describe, besides the "competent manager" bit, but you can't have everything.
:^), and at one time applied for a job at the DFAO and later a job with a local law enforcement agency (both "non-shooting" IT jobs). The only problem with government work is that, compared with the private sector, the pay scales seem a bit low. Then again, the benefits are usually better.
I actually gave that some thought. I'm a previous government employee (I formerly did one of the "shooting parts"
Anyway, my current job is pretty much everything I described: boring cube, cluttered desk, a computer less than a year old, and a steady paycheck. And my CEO is about as non-dot-com as they come. However, if in the future I'm once again pounding the pavement, I'll probably take another look at government service.
A coporation might stand out with a Tempest machine, but I think if I were interviewing with a firm and I saw Galaga & Ms. Pacman, I'd like to think that the handwriting was on the wall...
Frankly, if you interview for a position with a company and they show you *any* video games (or other dot-com trappings such as a "coffee bar") and tout them as employee benefits, I think it should serve as a red flag. Those kind of amenities are there for one reason: to convince employees to work for a company that they would normally run the hell away from. It's almost always compensation for some other business shortcomings (i.e. excruciatingly long hours, zero job security, a paper-thin business model, etc).
"I work 80 hour weeks, no overtime, the phones went out for 4 hours yesterday because we didn't pay the bill... but we've got free video games and lattes in the break room, and my boss is so cool, he drives a Hummer. This place is great!"
You know what? Just give me a boring old cube, a desk, a decent computer, and a steady paycheck with a company where I don't lie awake at night wondering if the doors will be open when I get there tomorrow. Oh, and some old curmudgeon of a boss who's been in business for 20 years and actually knows how to run a company.
According to the photos, auction items also include a few full-size arcade cabinets (no big surprise, they're pretty much a dot-com staple).
[01-03-04 09:44:31] Beer Location: On the delivery truck.
[01-03-04 10:26:54] Beer Location: On the store loading dock.
[01-03-04 11:54:12] Beer Location: In the store refrigerator case.
[01-03-04 19:22:57] Beer Location: In customer's hand.
[01-03-04 19:24:03] Beer Location: On the store checkout counter.
[01-03-04 19:31:44] Beer Location: Outside the store.
[01-03-04 19:32:10] Container Event: Can opened.
[01-03-04 19:32:12] Beer Location: Inside customers mouth.
[01-03-04 19:32:12] Beer Location: Outside customers mouth.
[01-03-04 19:32:13] Beer Location: On the ground.
[01-03-04 19:32:17] Beer Location: In the gutter.
[01-03-04 19:32:23] Container Event: Can dropped.
Dark Matter will be taught to school children as the Aether of 21st century science.
And, as mentioned in the last article, the $500, 10-client version of Server is limited to 10 simultaneous clients on AFP. To get around this, pay double for the unlimited version, or use plain old Panther Client.
I saw this mentioned in comments to yesterday's review as well, so last night I checked this out on my home network. With the client version, you are limited to 10 AFP connections (it says so at the bottom of the window when you click on Personal File Sharing). It isn't unlimited. I'm not sure about Windows File Sharing (SMB), as I don't use it and didn't think to check.
But it still doesn't resolve the real problem which is that most of what the labels are selling is crap and grotesquely overpriced at that. People swapping all of that music is more a response to that than anything else.
I think the idea that "most of it is crap" is kind of an oversimplification. Really, the issue is one of *value*.
I think iTunes Music Store illustrates this point nicely. What are they at? 30 million songs purchased so far? Why, when you could get the material for free on P2P? Because people who purchased songs from iTMS felt that a legitimate, high (subjective) quality copy of a song they liked sold through an easy-to-use, easy-to-find interface with no waiting presented a value at the price of $0.99.
The problem with the music industry's current model isn't that everything is necessarily crap. It's simply that a growing number of consumers don't see a value in going to the store to buy a physical disc that often contains one good song and 14 filler tracks, at the sale price of $18.99. And no amount of cracking down on P2P is going to change that fundamental value equation.
If the record industry wanted to kill illegal file-swapping instantly, they could do it simply by offering up their entire catalog for online distribution at the price of $0.05 per track, with little or no DRM. Boom. Illegal file-sharing gone. Why bother with bad rips, mislabeled files, and long queues when you can pay a nickel and get a good copy of the right song with no waiting? The problem is, this doesn't hold with the industry's set pricing model of $1/song and the massive profit margin that comes with it. It's an industry blinded to reality by greed.
In 1991, a crack development unit was sent to prison by a software patent court for a crime they didn't commit. These men promptly escaped from a maximum security stockade to the Linux Expo underground. Today, still wanted by the government, they survive as coders of fortune. If someone rips off your code, if no one else can help, and if you can find them, maybe you can hire... the C-Team.
I guess your kids, at 100lbs total, passed out in their bedroom are fucking screwed then, eh?
You make the incorrect presumption that my wife and I have (or even want) children. However, in the nightmare bizarro realm where I would share my home with small, obnoxious people who drive me crazy and drain money from my wallet, then I would make *them* grab the hard drives on the way out the door. I'd be waiting for them in the yard.
I personally would not feel comfortable with this device. They make no mention of how your data is protected if one of the drives in it goes bad.
Your data isn't any more protected on this drive than on any other hard drive.
With this device you probably have to send everything back to them to fix with no guarantee of data preservation.
Just like any other hard drive.
Even though this device "looks cool" I'll stick to the RAID system that I built in my fileserver at home. It holds almost as much data, costs less, and if something in it breaks I can fix it quickly without any loss of data.
A RAID array is not a backup solution. It's a fault tolerance solution. There are several scenarios where you could lose everything on even a RAID5 array (controller failure, multiple disk failure, etc). So your ability to "fix it quickly without any loss of data" is by no means certain.
But, I think you are missing a major point here: unlike your fileserver-based RAID array, this drive is small, quiet, and portable.
I currently have a bigass fileserver at home in a big, loud, power-sucking server case with 8 case fans and dual power supplies (and it sounds like a jet engine). It houses my video library (among other roles) on a 400GB RAID5 array built from six 80GB drives in hotswap drive cages connected to a Promise SX6000 controller. It was relatively cheap, it holds a lot of stuff, and I can replace faulty components off the shelf. It's great. Except for the noise and power requirements of having to house the thing in a big server.
I'm looking at this LaCie 1TB drive as a way to scale down my server to a desktop case just big enough to hold two mirrored system disks, a CD drive, and a DAT drive. The rest of my storage would be in external, self-contained drives.
As for backups, I backup my system disks (where the home directories live) nightly to DAT, but the data in my library (like most) is write once, ready many. I back up my data to DVD before it gets stored on the array, rendering periodic backups unnecessary. If the disk crashes and dies, no big deal. I just have to endure a few hours (days) of restoring files from DVD archives.
And in the event that my home catches fire, I can grab an external drive on the way out the door. Try that with a 100lb server.
I recently bought a LaCie 160GB firewire drive to house my ever-expanding music and photo library, and I was going to buy one of their 500GB firewire drives a few days ago, as my home video library is reaching the limits of the 400GB array where it is currently housed.
Man, am I glad I waited. The 500GB model was going to augment my array, but now I'll just wait and buy the 1TB drive as a replacement. I can ditch the very loud double-wide server case that houses the array, and skim down to a smaller box with quiet(er) external drives.
...look like a 70's porno movie?
All those little punishments Adrian clearly didn't get from his parents for 22 years are now being handed out in one big heavy-duty lump.
I think you hit the nail on the head.
The whole world IS there just to satisfy our personal curiosity/restlessness/ambition/greed/whatever. If it weren't so then living wouldn't be fun anymore.
I disagree. I think the whole world is there to be shared with others, and part of that sharing is in allowing other people to maintain their private spaces, as you would wish to maintain your own. Curiosity and exploration can coexist with respect for others.
The chaos you describe - where people take what they want and tread where they wish without regard for others - is only "fun" when you are the one taking. Inevitably, you will find yourself on the other end of that transaction and your outlook on the situation will undoubtably change.
I agree with you except for one point. I don't think he should get the maximum sentence, which could be up to 20 years. Jail time yes, but maximum no.
Point taken. 20 years is excessive punishment for this crime. But I think I saw in the article that they had said "up to five years in prison" and I think a five year stretch would be appropriate. Basically, I just want to see him get more than a token six month sentence, or worse - probation.