Then assuming that the DVD player upgrade and the price difference between Mandrake and Windows is greater than $21, we have a situation where the consumer, HP and Mandrake win, but Microsoft loses. Cool. I can live with that.
I base it upon my experience, just like I'm sure you base your conclusions upon your experiences. I also listen to what others say, and while some don't have problems, I think more feel similarly to me than not. Many people that criticize Windows XP stability probably haven't used it. I'm sure many people have stability problems with XP, but there are MANY TIMES more users of XP than Mandrake.
I did a dual boot on my desktop for many years (right now it has Redhat 9, Windows XP, Mandrake 9.2, SuSE 8.2 and Debian (installed Woody but went up to Sarge)). XP crashed maybe *5 times throughout a span of a couple years while Linux distributions crashed similarly or more times with less usage.
Sure, this is anecdotal. But I still feel this to be generally true. I've read many users of other distros say the same thing about Mandrake, so I don't think I'm alone on this.
*Note: I had hardware problems and it crashed considerably more on all the OSes, but I'm taking that out of the statistics.
Often it is, but that doesn't matter to the user if hardware gets less support on Linux and causes problems. Also, right now, my Synaptic Touchpad works fine with linux kernel 2.4.25. I upgraded to 2.6.3 (through Debian) and I had other problems but the mouse worked. I lost tap-click support so I had to compile and install the special Synaptic drivers. that worked for a while. Then when I reboot, my mouse stopped working. It notices a device but doesn't support it. I mean, I do "cat/dev/psaux" and it doesn't say no device found, but nothing happens when I move the cursor or press buttons. I decided to uninstall hotplug and some other things and it worked. Then I rebooted and it stopped working again. So I'm back to 2.4.25.
I also have a problem that when I log out of KDE (with dual monitor support on my laptop), it just hangs and I have to do a hard reboot. When I went up to 2.6.3, that got fixed somehow. But the problem is back with 2.4.25. I have to remember to CTRL_ALT_BACKSPACE.
I know Windows has its problems. But little things like that. Though I'm using Debian now, I used to use Mandrake for years. I used Redhat for a year (and on some school machines) and then moved on to Mandrake. I tried SuSE for half a year and liked it, but didn't like the fact it was only a FTP install for the new versions. I've been using Debian for about a year. Installing Woody was a bitch on my desktop, so I did Knoppix (and later changed to Morphix) on my laptop.
So while I'm not an Linux expert, I've had novice like experience on several of the systems and my feeling still is that Mandrake is the least stable of them. I don't care if it's hardware related or because they have latest apps and I keep seeing KDE segfaults, I still say that the distribution is unstable. I'm running Debian unstable, but at least I know that it's on the edge and there are greater likelihood of many bugs left unsolved. While Mandrake gives a better configuration interface (IMO, such as harddrake, etc) it has the same unstable feel. Your mileage may vary. But I've run Mandrake on three computers (my desktop, latop and brother's computer) because I like it, but I get the same feel on all of them. Maybe it's just me that's the problem..
I've found Mandrake to have the best visual user configuration programs out there. I do think it's the most user friendly. However, I also think it's less stable than some of the other distrobutions because of staying on the edge of new software releases. Obviously we don't want a Debian stable for the desktop user, but I think Mandrake is less stable than Windows XP.
The new users won't necessarily care how far the strides GNU/Linux has made, but realize that it's still not as easy to use as Windows and (IMO) not as stable as XP either!
Re:The multi million dollar question...
on
In Google We Trust
·
· Score: 1
If you know it'll rise rapidly, then can't you be an early buyer and then sell after it's gone up some? You don't have to wait for it to peak (that's hard to predict), but you're predicting that it'll go up so that means you can make money by buying low and selling high.
I just looked at YHOO and except for that rise and then dip for the first couple of months, it steadily rose for three years. Then it dropped at the beginning of 2000 and somewhat leveled around 2002 and began to rise again near 2003.
But if you and everyone predict the prices will rise rapidly and dont buy, then the prices will not rise. This is what makes the markets so interesting.
Re:The multi million dollar question...
on
In Google We Trust
·
· Score: 1
Damn, I previewed, but forgot to add this...
What Microsoft realizes is that its monopoly isn't secure. When (or IF for the less hopeful) Linux makes inroads and starts to get more third party support, costs for transitioning from MS Windows to Linux begin to erode for everyone. That's why FUD is even more important for them, because in whatever way they can, GNU/Linux's reputation and credibility can never gain high standing with the public.
Re:The multi million dollar question...
on
In Google We Trust
·
· Score: 5, Insightful
Which is one thing people forget but makes others things all the more puzzling.
Winamp became almost the defacto music player, and while WMP has also a large share, winamp gained popularity through word of mouth as well.
ICQ *used* to have the same, until the software began to deteriorate. Now, AIM, MSN and Yahoo are the popular ones, though I don't know of anyone that uses Yahoo (I hear different ones are popular in different regions of the world).
Programs such as Kazaa, Gnutella, Imesh, etc also gained widespread usage pretty fast.
So, how come Mozilla and Opera (obviously technically better products) didn't spread as fast?
It is true that the default setting by Microsoft makes a huge difference. That helps with MSN (Windows) Messenger and MSN.com. AIM gets a boost due to the many AOL users. But we know that quality products and services do spread rapidly through word of mouth endorsments. What is keeping Open Source Software behind?
GAIM isn't as popular as Trillian. I don't know of anyone that uses Jabber, though I wish more did. Is OpenOffice.org being held back severely by those that pirate (copyright infringe) Microsoft Office? But two things being free, obviously that also means there is enough hassle to change or the product is inferior (in the minds of the many users).
Switching OSes is even more of a drastic change, so if people seem unwilling to embrace Open Source less than piracy for application software, then it seems unlikely Linux will be embraced in the home anytime soon.
I think GNU/Linux is not ready yet for the home (though I do think it's ready for business desktops) but beyond that, I think word of mouth reputation must also improve. Hell, based my own experiences, I wouldn't recommend people use Linux except Knoppix or MandrakeMove right now.
It's obvious that advertising and Microsoft's monopoly and default settings make a huge impact. But word of mouth recommendations make a huge difference. And right now, Linux's reputation (and I guess Mozilla as well, though I'm not sure as to what reasons those are) also need improving.
If you commit a criminal act in a foreign country which is legal in your home country, you probably shouldn't be extradited.
There is no "probably" about it. If you do something that isn't a crime where you are, the government there shouldn't send you to another place where it is a crime. Sodomy is illegal in certain US states, but lets say you have anal sex where it's legal (realizing or not it's illegal elsewhere), should you be sent over to another state? No. Then you definitely shouldn't be sent over to another country.
So the argument is, if you do something on the Internet, you're doing it in EVERY COUNTRY that has the Internet? You say something against the Chinese government online and you can be extradited to China? Say something about Nazis and you can be punished in France and Germany?
I hate software piracy. It's too easy and people give in a little of their morals for convenience. It keeps the major software companies in power, it allows them to get tougher unnecessary laws and it makes it harder for Open Source Software and Free Software to make grounds since so many can get other software for free illegally. But having that said, if the guys committed no crimes where they were, then they shouldn't be extradited. If Australia wants to make it a crime, that's another issue. The US Government can wait until the perpetrators land on their soil and then arrest them. And the US can ask for Australia to give him up, that makes sense. Why not. But for Australia to do so would mean that every Australian would have to learn the laws of every country (well, at least the US) and be careful that other citizens (that's what the government is) would willingly give their comrades up for whatever assistance in the future. It's just wrong. No probably about it.
Just because we can learn from failure and make the most of it doesn't mean it's not failure. I'm not saying the challenge itself was a failure but we can't always lower standards after the fact to suit our egos. I'm sure many of the participants and DARPA officials were expecting (not just hoping) for much better.
Not directly. But kids (with 2x/3x the synapses) learn languages (and just about anything else) much better and quicker than adults.
Granted they learn better, but they also know much less. How do we know that reduction isn't part of "knowing"? Also, how do we know the brain isn't wired so that it's specifically designed to learn and adapt as a child and not do so as you grow up (which makes sense obviously) but that while there is a correlation with large synapses, there is not necessarily a cause/effect relationship.
Simply because, at any given time, the brain only prunes those synapses which don't get excited by the current environment.
Which is exactly what you'd expect a heuristic learning algorithm would do! It's a greedy algorithm (as is evolution). Obviously, the key isn't the number of synapses, but how they connect and relate. What exactly is stored and how they're stored is still mostly unknown (beyond general terms, we know we store general face prototypes, not per person, but some group classification).
Yes, a child should have rich mentally stimulating environment because we know that they have much to learn and adapt to so they shouldn't over adapt yet.
Well, just tossing out ideas. Makes sense at the moment. I'm also into Cognitive Science and Michigan State has a good program here for that. But I'm mostly in the AI and NLP field.
Young kids have roughly double to triple the synapses as an adult. The synapses get pruned due to lack of use. So your "stimulate the senses" is good advice, which is another way of saying Use It or Lose It. In the same vein, getting more neurons and increasing firing rate might help. It's certainly not automatically a false cure.
How do we know that "losing it" doesn't make us smarter? maybe it's a form of search tree pruning and learning heuristics as we grow. Maybe the trick is pruning the right ones.
It's hard enough to really test intelligence because people are skilled/talented/gifted at different things. But are there studies showing correlations between more synapses and being smarter in adults?
I can't change my status without returning to Nepal. But doing so would trigger a bar from returning to the country. I'm in quit the conundrum.
You make many assumptions about my situation with little/no knowledge.
If I could've fixed my situation, I would have. The only recourse for me is to marry an American. I have no problem marrying an American (or Chinese, or Indian or Nepali) but I will not marry someone for the purpose of fixing my status.
I do not have national pride in any country. I always have thought more globally than that. I value the values that made this nation and I value some of the aspects of Nepal, but I don't take pride knowing I'm a citizen of (or live in) a particular country.
Nepal is in civil war. It's a Kingdom so political rights are different and it's a Hindu nation. The country is very religious while I an atheist. I do not speak the language. I would have little to no value there, while I am helpful here (I volunteer, participate in school, etc).
I also think the US should be strict on the borders. But at the same time, the cold hard truth is that as long as there is such a disparity between the US and Mexico, people will continue to risk their lives and come here. That will not go away. So you have to improve the situation there (Mexico) somehow, or you won't be able to deal with it here.
Over 10 million illegals in this country. 3% of the population. You still have to deal with them.
Another problem is the unwillingness of Americans to take low paying jobs. I knew of people working $4/hr recently and 12 hour days to make by. If Americans took the jobs available (for minimum wage of course), then illegals couldn't find work and wouldn't have the same incentives to come.
And most of the illegal aliens are not criminals. Though coming here illegally is against the law, the term criminal is loaded with much more connotation that's not deserved. For every Atta, there are thousands of hard working people that would never break the law in fear of being deported or whatever.
Have you read INS laws? I have, it's confusing as heck. Are you an immigration lawyer? I've talked to several and they can't even agree.
By the INS codes, I'm considered an overstay. My visa allowed for "duration of status". Meaning while I'm here, I'm not technically illegal. However, there are two events that could trigger "unlawful presence" and 3 or 10 year bans.
1) An immigration judge finds that a status violation has occured
2) INS determines in the course of adjudicating an application for an immigration benefit that there has been status violation and the request for the benefit is denied.
So basically, until I complain to the INS and try to fix anything, I'm okay. If I try to fix something or go to a judge, then they'll kick me out and bar me.
The INS laws are seriously messed up right now.
Second, I never said I had a right to be here. However, I came to this country as a child at age 5 and have never left. By the time I was aware of my legal situation, I was much older and already tied down to the US. This is the whole world that I know. Only language I speak fluently. I went through grades 1-12 and undergrad. I don't think I have a right, but I think there are enough special circumstances that I should be allowed to stay. If not, then another country will benefit from my services.
The H1B limit went form 66K to 112K and then 192K (or thereabouts) per year. That from ALL countries. After the bubble burst, the limit decreased again, but it didn't because many companies stopped hiring H1B. So how is it possible for there to millions of Indians a year? It's not. You're full of shit.
Issue 1: Interview with Linus, the Author of Linux
Posted on Tuesday, March 01, 1994 by LJ Staff
Linus (rhymes with shyness)
Torvalds (author of the Linux kernel, see box) traded e-mails with us
for several days in January giving us his views on the future direction
of Linux (rhymes with clinics) and his ongoing role in its development.
Linux Journal: Ken Thompson was once asked, if he had the chance to do it
all again, what changes would he make in Unix. He said he
would add an e to the creat system call.
How about you and Linux?
Linus: Well, Considering how well it has turned out, I really can't
say something went wrong: I have done a few design mistakes,
and most often those have required re-writing code (sometimes
only a bit, sometimes large chunks) to correct for them, but
that can't be avoided when you don't really know all the problems
If it's something I have problems with, it's usually the interface
between user-level programs and the kernel: kernel-kernel relations
I can fix easily in one place, but when I notice that the design of
a system call is bad, changing that is rather harder, and mostly
involves adding a new system call which has semantics that are
the superset of the old and then leaving in a compatibility-hack
so that the old calls still work. Ugly, and I avoid it unless it
really has to be done.
Right now I'd actually prefer to change the semantics of the
and write() system calls subtly, but the gains aren't really worth
the trouble.
Linux Journal: The most consistent compliment that Linux receives is its
stability on Intel PC computers. This is particularly true
compared to ``real Unices'' that have been ported to the Intel platform.
What do you see that was done right in Linux that is causing
problems for these other PC Unices?
Linus: There are probably a couple of reasons. One is simply the
design, which is rather simple, and naturally suits the PC
architecture rather well. That makes many things easier. I'd
suspect that the other reason is due to rather stable drivers:
PC hardware is truly horrendous in that there are lots of different
manufacturers, and not all of them do things the same (or even
according to specs).
That results in major problems for anybody who needs to write
a driver that works on different systems, but in the case of
linux this is at least partially solved by reasonably direct
access to a large number of different machines. The development
cycle of linux helps find these hardware problems: with many
small incremental releases, it's much easier to find out exactly
what piece of code breaks/fixes some hardware. Other
distributions (commercial or the BSD 386-project which uses
a different release schedule) have more problems in finding out
why something doesn't work on a few machines even though it seems
to work on all the others.
Linux Journal: Have you heard of any problems running Linux on the Pentium chip?
Do you expect any?
Linus: I know from a number of reports that it works, and that the boot-up
detection routines even identify the chip as a Pentium
("uname -a" will give "i586" with reasonably new kls,
as I ignore Intel guidelines about the name). The problems are not
likely to occur due to the actual processor itself, as much
as with the surrounding hardware: with a Pentium chip,
manufacturers are much more likely to use more exotic
hardware controllers for better performance, and the
drivers for them all won't necessarily exist for linux yet.
So I've had a few reports of a Pentium PCI machine working
fine, but that the kernel then doesn't recognize the SCSI
hard disk, for example.
From a performance viewpoint, the current gcc compiler isn't
able to do Pentium-specific optimizations, so sadly linux won't
be able to take full advantage of the processor right now. I don't
know when gcc will have Pentium-optimi
You're right, to a degree. I think it's the way we're wired through evolution. People can think about how small the world is, but they see a picture with an tiny white spec supposed to be earth and it gives them new perspective. People can talk about poor people in India, but until they see pictures, they can't really imagine it. People talk about breast cancer being a serious issue, but until they lose a loved one, they don't think it's important. Unless terrorist attacks affect them personally, some don't realize the gravity of the issue.
I would like to think that I am not limited (to the same degree) that most humans are and can empathize and take lessons to heart. That I won't have to suffer more to learn from it. The more I think and consider the many ways in which I am fortunate, that I not only understand but feel and appreciate how fortunate I am. I just go through a mental list (not the same thing every time) and visualize both how I'm lucky and how others are unlucky and each item on the list is uplifting.
I had parents that truly sacrificed. Dad worked two jobs while studying. Mom had a masters but language barriers and other problems forced her to work low income jobs. We never ate out and always cooked. Rice is very cheap compared to other foods and people in Nepal eat rice for breakfast, lunch and dinner (or used to, times change). Parents saved every penny. We didn't buy luxury stuff (took donated basketballs and sports stuff and played with friends, got donated television, no cable or video games or stuff).
We didn't ever go out to movies, didn't buy books (library is your friend). We bought old cheap cars and used the bus and/or walked at times. Living in the midwest, you can get a good 2 bedroom apt for $500. So you add $150-200 for food for a family of 5 for a month (my parents always bought cheap food but made it taste good), and other utilities and bills and they could save money with an income of $1000 a month. Working multiple jobs, they were able to save up a lot of money. So right now, I'm draining their savings, hoping that I can make it back after school...
So you're proposing we bring all the soldiers back and fire them?
And as far as I know, a good portion of that military money goes to research and "IP investment". Some of it is to companies and other is to researchers at universities.
But I do think the government needs to do more to spur education here. A lot more...
Actually, you don't know how right you are. My father came to study (did Masters and PhD) with funding from international agencies and he came with a J visa status. That requires that he returns to his country of origin for two years (makes sense). Since I came some months after him, I was put under the same restrictions. If I had come illegally, I wouldn't have had those restrictions. Seriously, once you start studying in the US, when do you want to take a two year break from your education?
Also, if you get a job (illegally), a house and other things, then you can show ties to this country and would have a better case for not being deported, whereas if you follow the law, you'd have less ties.
My case is an even more interesting one. My visa didn't support me when I turned 21 since parents can no longer sponsor their children 21 and older. That puts me in an interesting category. I'm not illegal but somewhat "out-of-status". However, if I decided to leave the country and INS found out, then I'd be barred from re-entering for 10 years. Funny how that works out isn't it:D
Food, clothing, entertainment and services are much cheaper. Method of transportation depends upon location. And with the job, you'd be middle class or higher. You'd definitely afford laptops and internet access. The range between the poor and rich is huge in India. But you would be on the higher end, so I don't think you'd have to worry.
I've lived in the US for almost 20 years and I can't get my visa straightened out or work legally. So I'm in graduate school but I can't take a teaching or research assistantship (even though I've been offered) since that's considered working, and though I'm qualified in terms of ability, I can't get fellowships because they're reserved for US residents and citizens. yeah, life's tough. But you still have a hell of a lot more options than I do.
You say it's not viable, but think of the MANY MILLIONS of Indians that try to come to the US. Only few make it. Of course, here, there seems to be many. But that dwarfs how many don't make it. Not to mention the countless other countries.
I'm not from India, but from Nepal. A country that's even more impoverished with political and other problems. And I've lived in this country so long and there was no Nepali community growing up that my Nepali is very poor. Yeah for me. It's always important to keep in mind that there are billions who have it worse. That's what I have to keep reminding myself.
As someone else said, I understand how fortunate I am, though I don't feel it. I think its important for people to at least understand it and realize how many ways they have it much better. It's always possible to see others who have it better in some ways or another. And obviously you want to better you standing. But that's not where happiness nor peace come from.
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I guess I'm more lenient. I would only place them in a cell together. Give them family time to think it over.
Oh, and not feed them until there is only one person left alive
muahahahaha
Then assuming that the DVD player upgrade and the price difference between Mandrake and Windows is greater than $21, we have a situation where the consumer, HP and Mandrake win, but Microsoft loses. Cool. I can live with that.
I base it upon my experience, just like I'm sure you base your conclusions upon your experiences. I also listen to what others say, and while some don't have problems, I think more feel similarly to me than not. Many people that criticize Windows XP stability probably haven't used it. I'm sure many people have stability problems with XP, but there are MANY TIMES more users of XP than Mandrake.
I did a dual boot on my desktop for many years (right now it has Redhat 9, Windows XP, Mandrake 9.2, SuSE 8.2 and Debian (installed Woody but went up to Sarge)). XP crashed maybe *5 times throughout a span of a couple years while Linux distributions crashed similarly or more times with less usage.
Sure, this is anecdotal. But I still feel this to be generally true. I've read many users of other distros say the same thing about Mandrake, so I don't think I'm alone on this.
*Note: I had hardware problems and it crashed considerably more on all the OSes, but I'm taking that out of the statistics.
Often it is, but that doesn't matter to the user if hardware gets less support on Linux and causes problems. Also, right now, my Synaptic Touchpad works fine with linux kernel 2.4.25. I upgraded to 2.6.3 (through Debian) and I had other problems but the mouse worked. I lost tap-click support so I had to compile and install the special Synaptic drivers. that worked for a while. Then when I reboot, my mouse stopped working. It notices a device but doesn't support it. I mean, I do "cat /dev/psaux" and it doesn't say no device found, but nothing happens when I move the cursor or press buttons. I decided to uninstall hotplug and some other things and it worked. Then I rebooted and it stopped working again. So I'm back to 2.4.25.
I also have a problem that when I log out of KDE (with dual monitor support on my laptop), it just hangs and I have to do a hard reboot. When I went up to 2.6.3, that got fixed somehow. But the problem is back with 2.4.25. I have to remember to CTRL_ALT_BACKSPACE.
I know Windows has its problems. But little things like that. Though I'm using Debian now, I used to use Mandrake for years. I used Redhat for a year (and on some school machines) and then moved on to Mandrake. I tried SuSE for half a year and liked it, but didn't like the fact it was only a FTP install for the new versions. I've been using Debian for about a year. Installing Woody was a bitch on my desktop, so I did Knoppix (and later changed to Morphix) on my laptop.
So while I'm not an Linux expert, I've had novice like experience on several of the systems and my feeling still is that Mandrake is the least stable of them. I don't care if it's hardware related or because they have latest apps and I keep seeing KDE segfaults, I still say that the distribution is unstable. I'm running Debian unstable, but at least I know that it's on the edge and there are greater likelihood of many bugs left unsolved. While Mandrake gives a better configuration interface (IMO, such as harddrake, etc) it has the same unstable feel. Your mileage may vary. But I've run Mandrake on three computers (my desktop, latop and brother's computer) because I like it, but I get the same feel on all of them. Maybe it's just me that's the problem..
I've found Mandrake to have the best visual user configuration programs out there. I do think it's the most user friendly. However, I also think it's less stable than some of the other distrobutions because of staying on the edge of new software releases. Obviously we don't want a Debian stable for the desktop user, but I think Mandrake is less stable than Windows XP.
The new users won't necessarily care how far the strides GNU/Linux has made, but realize that it's still not as easy to use as Windows and (IMO) not as stable as XP either!
If you know it'll rise rapidly, then can't you be an early buyer and then sell after it's gone up some? You don't have to wait for it to peak (that's hard to predict), but you're predicting that it'll go up so that means you can make money by buying low and selling high.
I just looked at YHOO and except for that rise and then dip for the first couple of months, it steadily rose for three years. Then it dropped at the beginning of 2000 and somewhat leveled around 2002 and began to rise again near 2003.
But if you and everyone predict the prices will rise rapidly and dont buy, then the prices will not rise. This is what makes the markets so interesting.
Damn, I previewed, but forgot to add this...
What Microsoft realizes is that its monopoly isn't secure. When (or IF for the less hopeful) Linux makes inroads and starts to get more third party support, costs for transitioning from MS Windows to Linux begin to erode for everyone. That's why FUD is even more important for them, because in whatever way they can, GNU/Linux's reputation and credibility can never gain high standing with the public.
Which is one thing people forget but makes others things all the more puzzling.
Winamp became almost the defacto music player, and while WMP has also a large share, winamp gained popularity through word of mouth as well.
ICQ *used* to have the same, until the software began to deteriorate. Now, AIM, MSN and Yahoo are the popular ones, though I don't know of anyone that uses Yahoo (I hear different ones are popular in different regions of the world).
Programs such as Kazaa, Gnutella, Imesh, etc also gained widespread usage pretty fast.
So, how come Mozilla and Opera (obviously technically better products) didn't spread as fast?
It is true that the default setting by Microsoft makes a huge difference. That helps with MSN (Windows) Messenger and MSN.com. AIM gets a boost due to the many AOL users. But we know that quality products and services do spread rapidly through word of mouth endorsments. What is keeping Open Source Software behind?
GAIM isn't as popular as Trillian. I don't know of anyone that uses Jabber, though I wish more did. Is OpenOffice.org being held back severely by those that pirate (copyright infringe) Microsoft Office? But two things being free, obviously that also means there is enough hassle to change or the product is inferior (in the minds of the many users).
Switching OSes is even more of a drastic change, so if people seem unwilling to embrace Open Source less than piracy for application software, then it seems unlikely Linux will be embraced in the home anytime soon.
I think GNU/Linux is not ready yet for the home (though I do think it's ready for business desktops) but beyond that, I think word of mouth reputation must also improve. Hell, based my own experiences, I wouldn't recommend people use Linux except Knoppix or MandrakeMove right now.
It's obvious that advertising and Microsoft's monopoly and default settings make a huge impact. But word of mouth recommendations make a huge difference. And right now, Linux's reputation (and I guess Mozilla as well, though I'm not sure as to what reasons those are) also need improving.
There is no "probably" about it. If you do something that isn't a crime where you are, the government there shouldn't send you to another place where it is a crime. Sodomy is illegal in certain US states, but lets say you have anal sex where it's legal (realizing or not it's illegal elsewhere), should you be sent over to another state? No. Then you definitely shouldn't be sent over to another country.
So the argument is, if you do something on the Internet, you're doing it in EVERY COUNTRY that has the Internet? You say something against the Chinese government online and you can be extradited to China? Say something about Nazis and you can be punished in France and Germany?
I hate software piracy. It's too easy and people give in a little of their morals for convenience. It keeps the major software companies in power, it allows them to get tougher unnecessary laws and it makes it harder for Open Source Software and Free Software to make grounds since so many can get other software for free illegally. But having that said, if the guys committed no crimes where they were, then they shouldn't be extradited. If Australia wants to make it a crime, that's another issue. The US Government can wait until the perpetrators land on their soil and then arrest them. And the US can ask for Australia to give him up, that makes sense. Why not. But for Australia to do so would mean that every Australian would have to learn the laws of every country (well, at least the US) and be careful that other citizens (that's what the government is) would willingly give their comrades up for whatever assistance in the future. It's just wrong. No probably about it.
Just because we can learn from failure and make the most of it doesn't mean it's not failure. I'm not saying the challenge itself was a failure but we can't always lower standards after the fact to suit our egos. I'm sure many of the participants and DARPA officials were expecting (not just hoping) for much better.
Granted they learn better, but they also know much less. How do we know that reduction isn't part of "knowing"? Also, how do we know the brain isn't wired so that it's specifically designed to learn and adapt as a child and not do so as you grow up (which makes sense obviously) but that while there is a correlation with large synapses, there is not necessarily a cause/effect relationship. Simply because, at any given time, the brain only prunes those synapses which don't get excited by the current environment.
Which is exactly what you'd expect a heuristic learning algorithm would do! It's a greedy algorithm (as is evolution). Obviously, the key isn't the number of synapses, but how they connect and relate. What exactly is stored and how they're stored is still mostly unknown (beyond general terms, we know we store general face prototypes, not per person, but some group classification).
Yes, a child should have rich mentally stimulating environment because we know that they have much to learn and adapt to so they shouldn't over adapt yet.
Well, just tossing out ideas. Makes sense at the moment. I'm also into Cognitive Science and Michigan State has a good program here for that. But I'm mostly in the AI and NLP field.
How do we know that "losing it" doesn't make us smarter? maybe it's a form of search tree pruning and learning heuristics as we grow. Maybe the trick is pruning the right ones.
It's hard enough to really test intelligence because people are skilled/talented/gifted at different things. But are there studies showing correlations between more synapses and being smarter in adults?
I can't change my status without returning to Nepal. But doing so would trigger a bar from returning to the country. I'm in quit the conundrum.
You make many assumptions about my situation with little/no knowledge.
If I could've fixed my situation, I would have. The only recourse for me is to marry an American. I have no problem marrying an American (or Chinese, or Indian or Nepali) but I will not marry someone for the purpose of fixing my status.
I do not have national pride in any country. I always have thought more globally than that. I value the values that made this nation and I value some of the aspects of Nepal, but I don't take pride knowing I'm a citizen of (or live in) a particular country.
Nepal is in civil war. It's a Kingdom so political rights are different and it's a Hindu nation. The country is very religious while I an atheist. I do not speak the language. I would have little to no value there, while I am helpful here (I volunteer, participate in school, etc).
I also think the US should be strict on the borders. But at the same time, the cold hard truth is that as long as there is such a disparity between the US and Mexico, people will continue to risk their lives and come here. That will not go away. So you have to improve the situation there (Mexico) somehow, or you won't be able to deal with it here.
Over 10 million illegals in this country. 3% of the population. You still have to deal with them.
Another problem is the unwillingness of Americans to take low paying jobs. I knew of people working $4/hr recently and 12 hour days to make by. If Americans took the jobs available (for minimum wage of course), then illegals couldn't find work and wouldn't have the same incentives to come.
And most of the illegal aliens are not criminals. Though coming here illegally is against the law, the term criminal is loaded with much more connotation that's not deserved. For every Atta, there are thousands of hard working people that would never break the law in fear of being deported or whatever.
Have you read INS laws? I have, it's confusing as heck. Are you an immigration lawyer? I've talked to several and they can't even agree.
By the INS codes, I'm considered an overstay. My visa allowed for "duration of status". Meaning while I'm here, I'm not technically illegal. However, there are two events that could trigger "unlawful presence" and 3 or 10 year bans.
1) An immigration judge finds that a status violation has occured
2) INS determines in the course of adjudicating an application for an immigration benefit that there has been status violation and the request for the benefit is denied.
So basically, until I complain to the INS and try to fix anything, I'm okay. If I try to fix something or go to a judge, then they'll kick me out and bar me.
The INS laws are seriously messed up right now.
Second, I never said I had a right to be here. However, I came to this country as a child at age 5 and have never left. By the time I was aware of my legal situation, I was much older and already tied down to the US. This is the whole world that I know. Only language I speak fluently. I went through grades 1-12 and undergrad. I don't think I have a right, but I think there are enough special circumstances that I should be allowed to stay. If not, then another country will benefit from my services.
The H1B limit went form 66K to 112K and then 192K (or thereabouts) per year. That from ALL countries. After the bubble burst, the limit decreased again, but it didn't because many companies stopped hiring H1B. So how is it possible for there to millions of Indians a year? It's not. You're full of shit.
do the moderators even click on the links?
Posted on Tuesday, March 01, 1994 by LJ Staff
Linus (rhymes with shyness) Torvalds (author of the Linux kernel, see box) traded e-mails with us for several days in January giving us his views on the future direction of Linux (rhymes with clinics) and his ongoing role in its development.
Linux Journal: Ken Thompson was once asked, if he had the chance to do it all again, what changes would he make in Unix. He said he would add an e to the creat system call.
How about you and Linux?
Linus: Well, Considering how well it has turned out, I really can't say something went wrong: I have done a few design mistakes, and most often those have required re-writing code (sometimes only a bit, sometimes large chunks) to correct for them, but that can't be avoided when you don't really know all the problems
If it's something I have problems with, it's usually the interface between user-level programs and the kernel: kernel-kernel relations I can fix easily in one place, but when I notice that the design of a system call is bad, changing that is rather harder, and mostly involves adding a new system call which has semantics that are the superset of the old and then leaving in a compatibility-hack so that the old calls still work. Ugly, and I avoid it unless it really has to be done.
Right now I'd actually prefer to change the semantics of the and write() system calls subtly, but the gains aren't really worth the trouble.
Linux Journal: The most consistent compliment that Linux receives is its stability on Intel PC computers. This is particularly true compared to ``real Unices'' that have been ported to the Intel platform.
What do you see that was done right in Linux that is causing problems for these other PC Unices?
Linus: There are probably a couple of reasons. One is simply the design, which is rather simple, and naturally suits the PC architecture rather well. That makes many things easier. I'd suspect that the other reason is due to rather stable drivers: PC hardware is truly horrendous in that there are lots of different manufacturers, and not all of them do things the same (or even according to specs).
That results in major problems for anybody who needs to write a driver that works on different systems, but in the case of linux this is at least partially solved by reasonably direct access to a large number of different machines. The development cycle of linux helps find these hardware problems: with many small incremental releases, it's much easier to find out exactly what piece of code breaks/fixes some hardware. Other distributions (commercial or the BSD 386-project which uses a different release schedule) have more problems in finding out why something doesn't work on a few machines even though it seems to work on all the others.
Linux Journal: Have you heard of any problems running Linux on the Pentium chip? Do you expect any?
Linus: I know from a number of reports that it works, and that the boot-up detection routines even identify the chip as a Pentium ("uname -a" will give "i586" with reasonably new kls, as I ignore Intel guidelines about the name). The problems are not likely to occur due to the actual processor itself, as much as with the surrounding hardware: with a Pentium chip, manufacturers are much more likely to use more exotic hardware controllers for better performance, and the drivers for them all won't necessarily exist for linux yet. So I've had a few reports of a Pentium PCI machine working fine, but that the kernel then doesn't recognize the SCSI hard disk, for example.
From a performance viewpoint, the current gcc compiler isn't able to do Pentium-specific optimizations, so sadly linux won't be able to take full advantage of the processor right now. I don't know when gcc will have Pentium-optimi
well, fuck aint as popular as it used to be, but there's crap and shit all over. It's spreading more rapidly than our holy penguin!
You're right, to a degree. I think it's the way we're wired through evolution. People can think about how small the world is, but they see a picture with an tiny white spec supposed to be earth and it gives them new perspective. People can talk about poor people in India, but until they see pictures, they can't really imagine it. People talk about breast cancer being a serious issue, but until they lose a loved one, they don't think it's important. Unless terrorist attacks affect them personally, some don't realize the gravity of the issue.
I would like to think that I am not limited (to the same degree) that most humans are and can empathize and take lessons to heart. That I won't have to suffer more to learn from it. The more I think and consider the many ways in which I am fortunate, that I not only understand but feel and appreciate how fortunate I am. I just go through a mental list (not the same thing every time) and visualize both how I'm lucky and how others are unlucky and each item on the list is uplifting.
I had parents that truly sacrificed. Dad worked two jobs while studying. Mom had a masters but language barriers and other problems forced her to work low income jobs. We never ate out and always cooked. Rice is very cheap compared to other foods and people in Nepal eat rice for breakfast, lunch and dinner (or used to, times change). Parents saved every penny. We didn't buy luxury stuff (took donated basketballs and sports stuff and played with friends, got donated television, no cable or video games or stuff).
We didn't ever go out to movies, didn't buy books (library is your friend). We bought old cheap cars and used the bus and/or walked at times. Living in the midwest, you can get a good 2 bedroom apt for $500. So you add $150-200 for food for a family of 5 for a month (my parents always bought cheap food but made it taste good), and other utilities and bills and they could save money with an income of $1000 a month. Working multiple jobs, they were able to save up a lot of money. So right now, I'm draining their savings, hoping that I can make it back after school...
So you're proposing we bring all the soldiers back and fire them?
And as far as I know, a good portion of that military money goes to research and "IP investment". Some of it is to companies and other is to researchers at universities.
But I do think the government needs to do more to spur education here. A lot more...
Actually, you don't know how right you are. My father came to study (did Masters and PhD) with funding from international agencies and he came with a J visa status. That requires that he returns to his country of origin for two years (makes sense). Since I came some months after him, I was put under the same restrictions. If I had come illegally, I wouldn't have had those restrictions. Seriously, once you start studying in the US, when do you want to take a two year break from your education?
:D
Also, if you get a job (illegally), a house and other things, then you can show ties to this country and would have a better case for not being deported, whereas if you follow the law, you'd have less ties.
My case is an even more interesting one. My visa didn't support me when I turned 21 since parents can no longer sponsor their children 21 and older. That puts me in an interesting category. I'm not illegal but somewhat "out-of-status". However, if I decided to leave the country and INS found out, then I'd be barred from re-entering for 10 years. Funny how that works out isn't it
Food, clothing, entertainment and services are much cheaper. Method of transportation depends upon location. And with the job, you'd be middle class or higher. You'd definitely afford laptops and internet access. The range between the poor and rich is huge in India. But you would be on the higher end, so I don't think you'd have to worry.
I've lived in the US for almost 20 years and I can't get my visa straightened out or work legally. So I'm in graduate school but I can't take a teaching or research assistantship (even though I've been offered) since that's considered working, and though I'm qualified in terms of ability, I can't get fellowships because they're reserved for US residents and citizens. yeah, life's tough. But you still have a hell of a lot more options than I do.
You say it's not viable, but think of the MANY MILLIONS of Indians that try to come to the US. Only few make it. Of course, here, there seems to be many. But that dwarfs how many don't make it. Not to mention the countless other countries.
I'm not from India, but from Nepal. A country that's even more impoverished with political and other problems. And I've lived in this country so long and there was no Nepali community growing up that my Nepali is very poor. Yeah for me. It's always important to keep in mind that there are billions who have it worse. That's what I have to keep reminding myself.
As someone else said, I understand how fortunate I am, though I don't feel it. I think its important for people to at least understand it and realize how many ways they have it much better. It's always possible to see others who have it better in some ways or another. And obviously you want to better you standing. But that's not where happiness nor peace come from.