Does anyone know yet? I've read lots of "insightful reviews" but nothing actually spelling out what a 1.2/1.4ghz Mac will actually run like.
I've been toying around with 1.25ghz ibook with 512 mb and it seems plenty snappy (note in the link by another responder, the ibook performs more poorly than than the mini). Of course, my main computers are 1600+ and 2200+ AMDs - not top of the line by any measure. Regardless, earlier today I had X11, quanta, kpat, safari, itunes playing, some terminals open, a virtual desktop program going, and some other misc. junk running - it was still snappy with all of that happening at once. I'd say that for what I do, it compares favorably to both my AMDs - maybe in the middle performace wise... this is a completely subjective evaluation BTW. Also, I'm not a gamer.
Of course, all these downloaded movies will only play on one computer, require a connection to the internet each time you want to play the movie (to authenticate), and you will only "own" the movie for 48 hours.
Actually, I think it's quite a good idea. I would love to see Farscape and Firefly in HD if possible. I've been using Netflix to catch up on all the cool sci-fi I've missed over the last decade (I don't watch broadcast anything - only DVDs) and I've thoroughly enjoyed the lack of commercials. Couple this with high definition and I'd be overjoyed.
As for a "watching window" - truth is, I can only watch most things once - a few things twice - and small minority of things over and over and over (I bought the Firefly boxed set). I wouldn't really be concerned if I only had 48hrs to watch. I'd gladly pay $3-4 for a disc's worth of HD content, watch it in my 48hr window, and be content having seen it once. If it was incredibly good, then I'd buy a copy for my collection. Fact is, I don't want an enormous collection of things I will use but once. This is why I love Librarys (you don't have to keep the books - they're heavy - hard to move) and video rentals (you don't have to pay 4x the value of a one time usage).
Do you do all your writing in longhand? Otherwise, there's a "spell check" option in your word processor...using it generally eliminiates misspellings.
I maid shore I spell-checked this sentence to insure its devoid spelling errors. Editors should be wear as the future of there jobs is in danger.
Reminds me of the joke that goes something like this:
A lady goes to a car dealer to get a fancy car. The salesman shows her a model with a voice activated radio. He says "classical", and a classical station comes on. He says "rock" and a rock station comes on. Impressed, the lady decides to take it for a test drive. As she is pulling out of the lot, a car cuts her off and she yells "asshole".... and Rush Limbaugh comes on.
as someone in their 20's, paying into this system, I expect something back. Saying there will be no crisis until 40 years down the road is just ignoring the pending doom. We must head off the problem before it starts.
I'm self employed meaning that I get to pay SS 15.3% of my income. And for what? If I die before I can collect, I get nothing back, can't leave it to the charity/family members of my choice, and if I do live long enough to collect, there won't be anything there anyway uless they raise the rates.... how happy will workers of the future be when they have to pay 25% of their income ON TOP of taxes? And really, how fair is that to them?
I suggest an optional program to let people opt-out. Yes I realize present earners are paying for present users... how about cutting the tax in half for those who would opt-out. I'd still be better off when I'm 65 if I could just put 7.15% of the SS tax into a low interest savings account. Hell, at least I'd get something even after inflationary depreciation. Anyway, that's my suggestion: let me out!
A whole bunch of file dialogs from different OS are here [link omitted]. Panther's looks kind of similar to the current GNOME one - the old GTK dialog looks like the older MacOS style.
That was more interesting than I might have expected. I like the dialogs that put me in context - above and below - in a single window. I hated the Mac OS-9 system of having to click in a separate area to go up a directory. Windows 3.1 version and the Red Hat 9 version were ones I liked because with a quick little click, you could go up a level:..
Having to select a lower level from a drop down box takes so freakin' long - I've never liked it that way.
I'm just going by my experience, where I had to be familiar with all the refresh rates my monitor could handle of in order to use every screen resolution it was capable of.... Why can't the system gracefully auto-detect it or use reasonable defaults? It's possible. Windows does it.
I remember writing down everything under the sun about my machine before my first Linux install - I'll be honest, it took me more than a few trys starting with Debian (and failing) before finally meeting success with a "Dummies" book and a Red Hat 5.x distibution. I reinstalled windows 3.1 afterwards because it ran faster on my 486.
The situation is really very different today. I'm presently using Suse for my home desktops and the truth is, after answering a few questions, everything is automagically configured. It's VERY easy - as in insert DVD, click a few things here and there, use the system. I'll grant you though, some things are hard to setup when you get beyond a basic install.
Wine, yes, that never worked for me...
This is one of the hard things and I aree with you - it would be nice if this worked out of the box without excessive configing. Except for Solitaire and IE a couple times, I've not had success with Wine either. But that is mostly about me - I've not been interested in setting it up.
Lastly, I'm typing this on a new ibook - which is cool - but is missing some things I really like about Linux. Highlight w/ middle click paste is notably lacking. I suppose I could go google for that and find a way to make it work... but then, I'm doing with the Mac, the same things I do with my Linux machines. Or what about virtual desktops - I love those. Not standard on a Mac. I installed some program to get that functionality back, but it is hard to configure (GUI notwithstanding) and it doesn't work the way I want it it to. I've already spent a couple hours futzing around with that and Aqua is supposed to be the cat's meow. All systems are quirky - none are perfect. Personally, I'd probably be most happy with a blend of Aqua and KDE... but I don't get to decide these things.
Anyway, I guess my point is that beyond a basic install (and a Linux basic install is now very easy), nothing is simple. Doesn't matter if it's Windows, OSX, or Linux - you end up messing around with things a lot.
That only works so long as all the contents they check out (and therefore also share) is under MPAA "control". If any of those files are owned by other organisations, the defence no longer holds.
You are correct in part. If the MPAA downloads and distributes files copyrighted by an independant content owner ("ICO"), and the ICO refuses to give them permission, then the MPAA has voilated the ICO's rights. The ICO could then sue the MPAA (or their Snoopers).
However, this feels like a very weak defense for Joe Blow when he's busted distributing LOTR. ICO could sue MPAA for a violation of ICO's rights. MPAA could sue Joe Blow for a violation of its rights. In the end, the damages might be a wash (ICO wins as much as MPAA wins - see note below), but Joe Blow is still going to be out his money unless ICO hands him a kickback.
As I said before, the essential element is permission. Without permission, a distributor is violating copyright - it doesn't matter if the distributing party is teenager looking for free movies, or the MPAA looking for the teenager... if a distribution without permission takes place, the distributor can be liable to the content owner.
One last note, it seems it would be fun to come up with files which have a copyright prohibiting MPAA/RIAA use/distribution. But you can bet your bottom dollar than when ICO attempts to sue the MPAA for his homevideo of his buds reviewing LOTR, the MPAA may easily admit liability because the value of the product would be so low. It would be hard to convince a judge that the value of such a home video is on par with LOTR. So it could be possible to win and still come out behind (pay a lawyer $20k, win $250 = you lose).
Unless turrents allow downloading without uploading anything, the MPAA attack dogs are just as guilty of doing what they are accusing the ohter end user of.
Don't take me for an MPAA troll, but before you decide to rest easy on this theory, think again. Here's how it breaks down: MPAA highers Snooper; MPAA gives Snooper the right to use files (including the act of uploading) as necessary to catch file sharers; Snooper then uses BT to snoop. In the process, some files may have been uploaded, but because the MPAA expressly allowed the uploads in the context of snooping, Snooper's hands are as clean as whistle.
If given permission, there is nothing inherently illegal about filesharing, Linux ISOs being an excellent example. It's legal because permission is granted. Sharing LOTR is not legal simply because permission is not granted. Anyway, at the risk of being repetitive, you can be certain that the MPAA will give Snooper whatever permission it needs to do its job, including uploading files. The key fact to focus on is not whether files were uploaded, but whether the MPAA gave the uploader permission to upload.
There's a much greater risk for a lot more people if we continue developing new ways to kill as many of us as possible, than if we decide to go to the stars. But that's just me.
All those movies where Earth faces attack by aliens with superior technology? Maybe it is humans who will be those evildoers someday.
Still, building a better hubble would be cool. I would love to see the pictures.
Well, no, it isn't. Typically the law requires a "reasonability" standard for knowledge - if a reasonable person should have known that they were doing wrong, that is just as good as saying that a defendant did know.
Not quite. In assigning liability, people are held to a reasonable person standard so people can't argue as a defense "I'm not smart enough to forsee these consequences!" (*) What you get when a reasonable person would avoid doing "A", but a person then does "A", is negligence, not lies.
What the original poster stated, was that because Defendant failed to forsee the consequences, he is a liar. That's just absurdly and viciously judgmental. Everyone does things that with better foresight, might be avoided. I've done stupid things - it doesn't mean I'm liar when I say I didn't think about the potential negative consequences. It means I'm negligent when I fail to think of them. I'm a liar, Defendant's a liar, everyone is a liar, only if he thinks about the consequences, and then later says he didn't.
Example, I ran a red light tonight. I didn't mean to, I was just following the truck in front of me - it stopped at the light and then drove through and I just followed along. I was negligent. I was stupid. But the truth is, I didn't even realize what I was doing until I was almost all the way through the intersection. I didn't plan on running the red light and I'm not a liar just because a reasonable prudent driver would have stopped. I'm just doing a lousy job driving today. Fortunately, nothing came of this so my negligent lapse dissapears into the ether. The only time we're ever called on our negligent acts is when something bad happens. How many negligent acts have you done today?
(*)Note - the "I'm stupid" defense should be distinguished from "competency", e.g., IQ=60.
How would they go about finding out if this guy was broadcasting within a 100 foot radius of himself anyways? Do they have people going around hunting down signals or what?
I was currious too so I did a rough google search, but not interested enough to refine it.
I did however, run across an entertaining article by a pirate radio guy. As a bit of CYA, I whole-heartedly do not recommend breaking the law nor would I suggest taking the article as "truth". It's just fun to read - on to the excerpts:
...
As a music aficionado, I felt obligated to get involved. We moved The Van to the driveway in front of my house. We ran an extension cord out of the van and into my second-story window to power the equipment (it was all pretty much in plain sight). We painted the antennae and put it up in our tree with another cable that ran from it to the van....
... Having been visited twice before by the FCC, veteran broadcaster Monk briefed us on what the risks were and how we should handle a visit (see below). We were prepared.
Nonetheless, the FCC visit I experienced was bizarre. I woke up to find two strange men in suits and a uniformed cop in my front yard....
...As I was turning around to go back inside the G Men and the cop came running up to me asking to talk. It was just like the cartoons. There was a fat guy and a skinny guy and they were shouting and sweating profusely. It was hard to keep a straight face....
...They asked to come inside. I asked if they had a warrant, and they literally flinched and took a step back. Their bulging eyes started twitching and they were dripping sweat on my porch. I had rendered them powerless....
...Four years after it started, we're now running 40 DJs strong and have become a major part of the community. Listen online and find out more at http://www.kbfr.org....
Re:How Israeli Companies Are Succeeding...
on
Business Under Fire
·
· Score: 1
They are succeeding since the American taxpayers are footing lots of the bill for Israel's defenses. They'd have a much harder time succeeding if the Israelis had to pay for it all themselves.
Irrelevant.
From the summary, it sounds like this book is about how companies in harsh business environments make it. Unquestionably, the situation in Israel could be harsher than it is, but that really doesn't matter in this context or analysis. Given an environment as harsh as Israel's, it is amazing that business can survive. I was struck by the hotel example. A hotel learning to survive on 25% capacity as opposed to 75% capacity by identifying and eliminating waste is amazing. While it may well be true that the hotel would fail at 0% capacity, that in no way lessens the value of the lessons it learned. By extension, one would think that those lessons would help hotels in more pleasant environments become more profitable, or help others get through hard times resulting from recesion or the like.
I think every kid should be forced to do one year of grunt work somewhere before going to college.
Absolutely true. I went to college straight from HS and I seriously believe that was a mistake. when I first got to college, my goal was to party unfettered by parental oversight. I did well at partying, lousy in school. It wasn't until mother passed away that I realized I had to actually become a self-reliant adult. Before this, my GPA was 1.99, after 3.88.
Thinking back on that time, I see now how incredibly immature I was. I would have been far better off I had been kicked out of the house and told to make it on my own for one year - no help at all. That year of scraping by would have been serious motivation to use my college time for learning.
Consider that already REALBasic 5.5 is loads ahead of this project in that much of the syntax is VB like, yet you can release one app simulataneously on Mac OS 9, OS X, Windows and Linux.... sure it's not free software but it works DAMN well.
You're right it ain't free - It's $600 for the version that will work for all three OSes, or a grand if you want a 12 month subscription. Kind of steep for those of us who just fool around with computers for fun rather than work.
College is OVER-RATED.... Before you flame me, ask yourself if some of the best people you ever worked with have a degree or was even a grad student etc.
Some of the worst managers I've experienced are of the uneducated variety, the type who, for example, worked in a store for 15 years before becoming a low-level manager sometimes develop a severe powertrip... a sort of Big Fish in a little pond syndrome.
This isn't to say that the educated variety doesn't suffer the same problem. Some of the worst managers I've experienced have been highly educated.
One hopes that an education will help people who would otherwise be bad managers, learn techniques that enable them to be decent managers. But whether educated or not, great managers are likely born to it. Neither education nor experience will make a terrible manager a great one.
Dropping kids on a bash prompt wouldn't be a bad idea, IMHO, especially after letting them get used to some random windowing system. How can Windows or OS X get you intreged how it all works, when the works are well hidden?
Wrong approach to GUI example:
Today I was fooling around with the new ibook and decided it was time to get rid of the extra icons in dock. Searched in preferences, searched in Apple's forums. I couldn't believe nobody had asked this question. Finally I just gave up, fired up Bash, found a file that looked promising, popped it open in Pico (hey, I like Pico - it's simple), deleted the gobbledygook that looked like it referred to these icons (made a backup file first of course), logged out, logged in, and viola - the annoying icons were gone. Long live the command line!
A little while later (all the time I was feeling proud and also amazed Apple wouldn't give people an easy option to customize the dock bar) I accidently removed an icon by dragging it out of Finder. I put it back by dragging it back and then it hit me - I tried the same process in the dock bar, it worked, and I suddenly realized I could add whatever I wanted just by moving icons around. To say the least, I felt pretty silly about my prior solution (good thing I didn't post it to the forums).
I laugh about this, but maybe it means something about modern interfaces. Staring at a blinking cursor makes you learn how to interact with the computer a certain way. Staring at a GUI makes you learn how to interact with the computer a different way. After today, I can't really say which is easier to master - they both have significant quirks which can seem almost insurmountable if approached the wrong way.
These cell towers don't run off of 12V DC, and even if they did, the power from one battery (or even 5) isn't gonna cut it.
Here is an example of how completely innadequate car batteries would be. I have a kiln/studio that until recently, had no power. I used a 12v deep cycle battery to power an inverter, light bulb (high efficiency flourescent), and a mini-itx based computer. If I ran only the light, I would get about 12 hours usuage before my charge fell below 50%. - that's when running nothing but a 40 watt bulb! Turn on the computer and I'd be done in 6 hours.
Electricity is like some magical mystical entity that never runs out as long as you are pulling it off a plug. But when you have to make your own, you realize just how precious it is. My battery must weigh about 50 pounds - lugging that home for charging made me very conservative about my power consumption.
I don't do HAM radio, but this analogy seems pretty weak. A flashlight is basically the "hello world" of circuit design. Setting up a radio that can be used for long distance communication must be a bit more involved than clicking the "on" switch.
Slashdot Mirror
Well, don't forget to factor in the time required to shower, brush teeth, and put on presentable clothes.
I've been toying around with 1.25ghz ibook with 512 mb and it seems plenty snappy (note in the link by another responder, the ibook performs more poorly than than the mini). Of course, my main computers are 1600+ and 2200+ AMDs - not top of the line by any measure. Regardless, earlier today I had X11, quanta, kpat, safari, itunes playing, some terminals open, a virtual desktop program going, and some other misc. junk running - it was still snappy with all of that happening at once. I'd say that for what I do, it compares favorably to both my AMDs - maybe in the middle performace wise
Actually, I think it's quite a good idea. I would love to see Farscape and Firefly in HD if possible. I've been using Netflix to catch up on all the cool sci-fi I've missed over the last decade (I don't watch broadcast anything - only DVDs) and I've thoroughly enjoyed the lack of commercials. Couple this with high definition and I'd be overjoyed.
As for a "watching window" - truth is, I can only watch most things once - a few things twice - and small minority of things over and over and over (I bought the Firefly boxed set). I wouldn't really be concerned if I only had 48hrs to watch. I'd gladly pay $3-4 for a disc's worth of HD content, watch it in my 48hr window, and be content having seen it once. If it was incredibly good, then I'd buy a copy for my collection. Fact is, I don't want an enormous collection of things I will use but once. This is why I love Librarys (you don't have to keep the books - they're heavy - hard to move) and video rentals (you don't have to pay 4x the value of a one time usage).
Do you do all your writing in longhand? Otherwise, there's a "spell check" option in your word processor...using it generally eliminiates misspellings.
I maid shore I spell-checked this sentence to insure its devoid spelling errors. Editors should be wear as the future of there jobs is in danger.
I'm self employed meaning that I get to pay SS 15.3% of my income. And for what? If I die before I can collect, I get nothing back, can't leave it to the charity/family members of my choice, and if I do live long enough to collect, there won't be anything there anyway uless they raise the rates
I suggest an optional program to let people opt-out. Yes I realize present earners are paying for present users
Correction - I never used OS-9, I realize now it was Mac OS 8 (honestly hated it on a beige Power PC that crashed more often than windows 3.1)
That was more interesting than I might have expected. I like the dialogs that put me in context - above and below - in a single window. I hated the Mac OS-9 system of having to click in a separate area to go up a directory. Windows 3.1 version and the Red Hat 9 version were ones I liked because with a quick little click, you could go up a level:
Having to select a lower level from a drop down box takes so freakin' long - I've never liked it that way.
I remember writing down everything under the sun about my machine before my first Linux install - I'll be honest, it took me more than a few trys starting with Debian (and failing) before finally meeting success with a "Dummies" book and a Red Hat 5.x distibution. I reinstalled windows 3.1 afterwards because it ran faster on my 486.
The situation is really very different today. I'm presently using Suse for my home desktops and the truth is, after answering a few questions, everything is automagically configured. It's VERY easy - as in insert DVD, click a few things here and there, use the system. I'll grant you though, some things are hard to setup when you get beyond a basic install.
This is one of the hard things and I aree with you - it would be nice if this worked out of the box without excessive configing. Except for Solitaire and IE a couple times, I've not had success with Wine either. But that is mostly about me - I've not been interested in setting it up.
Lastly, I'm typing this on a new ibook - which is cool - but is missing some things I really like about Linux. Highlight w/ middle click paste is notably lacking. I suppose I could go google for that and find a way to make it work
Anyway, I guess my point is that beyond a basic install (and a Linux basic install is now very easy), nothing is simple. Doesn't matter if it's Windows, OSX, or Linux - you end up messing around with things a lot.
- That only works so long as all the contents they check out (and therefore also share) is under MPAA "control". If any of those files are owned by other organisations, the defence no longer holds.
You are correct in part. If the MPAA downloads and distributes files copyrighted by an independant content owner ("ICO"), and the ICO refuses to give them permission, then the MPAA has voilated the ICO's rights. The ICO could then sue the MPAA (or their Snoopers).However, this feels like a very weak defense for Joe Blow when he's busted distributing LOTR. ICO could sue MPAA for a violation of ICO's rights. MPAA could sue Joe Blow for a violation of its rights. In the end, the damages might be a wash (ICO wins as much as MPAA wins - see note below), but Joe Blow is still going to be out his money unless ICO hands him a kickback.
As I said before, the essential element is permission. Without permission, a distributor is violating copyright - it doesn't matter if the distributing party is teenager looking for free movies, or the MPAA looking for the teenager
One last note, it seems it would be fun to come up with files which have a copyright prohibiting MPAA/RIAA use/distribution. But you can bet your bottom dollar than when ICO attempts to sue the MPAA for his homevideo of his buds reviewing LOTR, the MPAA may easily admit liability because the value of the product would be so low. It would be hard to convince a judge that the value of such a home video is on par with LOTR. So it could be possible to win and still come out behind (pay a lawyer $20k, win $250 = you lose).
Unless turrents allow downloading without uploading anything, the MPAA attack dogs are just as guilty of doing what they are accusing the ohter end user of.
Don't take me for an MPAA troll, but before you decide to rest easy on this theory, think again. Here's how it breaks down: MPAA highers Snooper; MPAA gives Snooper the right to use files (including the act of uploading) as necessary to catch file sharers; Snooper then uses BT to snoop. In the process, some files may have been uploaded, but because the MPAA expressly allowed the uploads in the context of snooping, Snooper's hands are as clean as whistle.
If given permission, there is nothing inherently illegal about filesharing, Linux ISOs being an excellent example. It's legal because permission is granted. Sharing LOTR is not legal simply because permission is not granted. Anyway, at the risk of being repetitive, you can be certain that the MPAA will give Snooper whatever permission it needs to do its job, including uploading files. The key fact to focus on is not whether files were uploaded, but whether the MPAA gave the uploader permission to upload.
Yes it is - thank you. ;-)
Ha! So perfect!
Good point. Wouldn't it be nice if you could walk around through town and always find a connection?
All those movies where Earth faces attack by aliens with superior technology? Maybe it is humans who will be those evildoers someday.
Still, building a better hubble would be cool. I would love to see the pictures.
Not quite. In assigning liability, people are held to a reasonable person standard so people can't argue as a defense "I'm not smart enough to forsee these consequences!" (*) What you get when a reasonable person would avoid doing "A", but a person then does "A", is negligence, not lies.
What the original poster stated, was that because Defendant failed to forsee the consequences, he is a liar. That's just absurdly and viciously judgmental. Everyone does things that with better foresight, might be avoided. I've done stupid things - it doesn't mean I'm liar when I say I didn't think about the potential negative consequences. It means I'm negligent when I fail to think of them. I'm a liar, Defendant's a liar, everyone is a liar, only if he thinks about the consequences, and then later says he didn't.
Example, I ran a red light tonight. I didn't mean to, I was just following the truck in front of me - it stopped at the light and then drove through and I just followed along. I was negligent. I was stupid. But the truth is, I didn't even realize what I was doing until I was almost all the way through the intersection. I didn't plan on running the red light and I'm not a liar just because a reasonable prudent driver would have stopped. I'm just doing a lousy job driving today. Fortunately, nothing came of this so my negligent lapse dissapears into the ether. The only time we're ever called on our negligent acts is when something bad happens. How many negligent acts have you done today?
(*)Note - the "I'm stupid" defense should be distinguished from "competency", e.g., IQ=60.
I was currious too so I did a rough google search, but not interested enough to refine it.
I did however, run across an entertaining article by a pirate radio guy. As a bit of CYA, I whole-heartedly do not recommend breaking the law nor would I suggest taking the article as "truth". It's just fun to read - on to the excerpts:
... Having been visited twice before by the FCC, veteran broadcaster Monk briefed us on what the risks were and how we should handle a visit (see below). We were prepared.
Nonetheless, the FCC visit I experienced was bizarre. I woke up to find two strange men in suits and a uniformed cop in my front yard.
Irrelevant.
From the summary, it sounds like this book is about how companies in harsh business environments make it. Unquestionably, the situation in Israel could be harsher than it is, but that really doesn't matter in this context or analysis. Given an environment as harsh as Israel's, it is amazing that business can survive. I was struck by the hotel example. A hotel learning to survive on 25% capacity as opposed to 75% capacity by identifying and eliminating waste is amazing. While it may well be true that the hotel would fail at 0% capacity, that in no way lessens the value of the lessons it learned. By extension, one would think that those lessons would help hotels in more pleasant environments become more profitable, or help others get through hard times resulting from recesion or the like.
Absolutely true. I went to college straight from HS and I seriously believe that was a mistake. when I first got to college, my goal was to party unfettered by parental oversight. I did well at partying, lousy in school. It wasn't until mother passed away that I realized I had to actually become a self-reliant adult. Before this, my GPA was 1.99, after 3.88.
Thinking back on that time, I see now how incredibly immature I was. I would have been far better off I had been kicked out of the house and told to make it on my own for one year - no help at all. That year of scraping by would have been serious motivation to use my college time for learning.
You're right it ain't free - It's $600 for the version that will work for all three OSes, or a grand if you want a 12 month subscription. Kind of steep for those of us who just fool around with computers for fun rather than work.
Some of the worst managers I've experienced are of the uneducated variety, the type who, for example, worked in a store for 15 years before becoming a low-level manager sometimes develop a severe powertrip
One hopes that an education will help people who would otherwise be bad managers, learn techniques that enable them to be decent managers. But whether educated or not, great managers are likely born to it. Neither education nor experience will make a terrible manager a great one.
Wrong approach to GUI example:
Today I was fooling around with the new ibook and decided it was time to get rid of the extra icons in dock. Searched in preferences, searched in Apple's forums. I couldn't believe nobody had asked this question. Finally I just gave up, fired up Bash, found a file that looked promising, popped it open in Pico (hey, I like Pico - it's simple), deleted the gobbledygook that looked like it referred to these icons (made a backup file first of course), logged out, logged in, and viola - the annoying icons were gone. Long live the command line!
A little while later (all the time I was feeling proud and also amazed Apple wouldn't give people an easy option to customize the dock bar) I accidently removed an icon by dragging it out of Finder. I put it back by dragging it back and then it hit me - I tried the same process in the dock bar, it worked, and I suddenly realized I could add whatever I wanted just by moving icons around. To say the least, I felt pretty silly about my prior solution (good thing I didn't post it to the forums).
I laugh about this, but maybe it means something about modern interfaces. Staring at a blinking cursor makes you learn how to interact with the computer a certain way. Staring at a GUI makes you learn how to interact with the computer a different way. After today, I can't really say which is easier to master - they both have significant quirks which can seem almost insurmountable if approached the wrong way.
Here is an example of how completely innadequate car batteries would be. I have a kiln/studio that until recently, had no power. I used a 12v deep cycle battery to power an inverter, light bulb (high efficiency flourescent), and a mini-itx based computer. If I ran only the light, I would get about 12 hours usuage before my charge fell below 50%. - that's when running nothing but a 40 watt bulb! Turn on the computer and I'd be done in 6 hours.
Electricity is like some magical mystical entity that never runs out as long as you are pulling it off a plug. But when you have to make your own, you realize just how precious it is. My battery must weigh about 50 pounds - lugging that home for charging made me very conservative about my power consumption.
I don't do HAM radio, but this analogy seems pretty weak. A flashlight is basically the "hello world" of circuit design. Setting up a radio that can be used for long distance communication must be a bit more involved than clicking the "on" switch.
I'd like to RTFA, but which one??