..they had different names for which browser on which OS. Just saying firefox gets confusing, because they are different. -> "what ya driving?" "a ford" "well ya, but *which* ford, the one that just had the huge recall, or what?"
Frankly, I'd like to see a major split/fork and have the FF linux devs just go their own way and be done with it and not have to be part of trying to make stuff work on windows so they can have universal releases all the time. And change the name.
Linux is something like nearly half the servers in existence and most of the top supercomputers. Desktop is a slower road of course, but it is still chugging along slowly but surely. Look at apple, originally a big percentage of desktops, then dropped to almost nothing, now inching its way back up because it got good. Stuff changes. The linux desktop market is big enough for there to be a lot of credible choices just within "linux" itself, there are half a dozen or so really good desktops and dozens of pretty good desktop linuxes out there now. And word gets around. It will be like FF, 0% to now upwards of one quarter to one half depending on where you look around the planet. There's some magic number that is hard to pinpoint but once anything reaches a certain level of use/adoption it really takes off then, usually near as I can see around 10%, then it makes huge jumps. Bad car analogy time, toyota prius is now more than one million cars sold from zero cars ten years ago, and the first with a mass market hybrid system that they really tried to make and sell in decent numbers (compared to honda for example who only fooled around with their insight). Now look, all the major manufacturers either have their own hybrids or will have them shortly. Ten years, that's all it takes once some threshold hits and it looks "real" to joe consumer to go from exotic to normal. I think this year the asus eeePC made linux "real" to a lot of people, so I am expecting ubiquitous linux as a choice to be along shortly with most computer makers as an option. And that is leaving out all the gadgets people use day to day running some smallish embedded linux, gps systems, cellphones, etc.
I've had an ATM machine tell me that I had thousands more in my account than what I knew I had. I had pulled a few jacksons for running around cash and the receipt showing the balance made my eyes pop! Yowza, jackpot! heh heh heh. Checked a few hours later and it was gone. (No, I made no attempt to go withdraw it) I've always wondered what sort of shenanigans were going on, if it was a real mistake or some sort of involved high level money laundering deal going on.
The electric company down here had a wireless option a while ago (don't know if it still exists), where you got cellphone coverage plus normal licensed band 2-way radio in the same unit, meaning you could talk either with normal cellphone *or* push to talk direct to other subscribers and across their multi state network of repeaters.
I told you I *remember*. Short mortgages and short car notes where the norm, not the exception. One chump change blue collar job was plenty of money to support a large family with just one spouse working, with full benefits, good savings accounts, being able to afford all those kids going to college, and etc. Now, think the economy can match that? I sure ain't seeing it. when I was a younger dude, two spouses working was *rare*, it just wasn't necessary, not a bit.
I've been listening to these globalist pirates lies for decades now. What do you dispute? That we aren't now the world's largest debtor nation, when a few decades ago we were the largest creditor nation? You catch the news the other day, they are projecting next year that 10% of the entire US population will be receiving food assistance. That's a good economy? You think crappy alleged service jobs and government make work jobs are actually better than the nuts and bolts manufacturing jobs with full benefits they shipped away by the multi millions?? Because that is all that is gaining is mostly McJobs and government drone jobs. Our biggest automakers slide nearer to being just totally bankrupt, always years behind the curve, because they got moribund, lead by wallstreet pirates and corrupt union heads out for short term profits with no forward looking. We got banks needing bailouts from the Fed on *huge* scales, and despite the bailouts tons of them are laying off right and left. This is good? You actually think having to bailout the largest banks is clear sign of a great thriving economy? You really expect me to dig upo links for that basic information, that's been in all the headlines for months now? We have personal bankruptcies and mortgage defaults at the highest levels in generations. the dollar continues to drop in worth daily, personal savings are at the lowest point since the great depression. This is good? that's all verifiable stuff but I ain't someone's personal google researcher either. this is basic, normal headlines information, I just have a memory that covers a longer timespan and can remember what stuff was like when the US actually made most of the stuff we found in the stores, and the economy was just overall better then. the drop has come about exactly parallel with killing off huge segments of the manufacturing base. Look at textiles, or furniture making, mostly gone. Hells bells, we don't even make ball bearing in the US anymore, or even TVs. Noprmal manufactuing things or normal consumer products. Mostly gone.
Is it all gone, nope, OK- I admit that, it isn't "all" gone, but ton of it gone and a lot of folks hurting and is the economy heavily skewed way towards the more controller class than ever? Heck ya it is and you'd have to be drinking more than a glass of that globalist koolaid to not admit it.
Now fair trade I could see, but this bullcrap they puish called "free" trade? Nope, scam, conjob, selling off the seedcorn, pawning your tools, just stupid.
Sure, I admit it is a rant, but that's all true stuff and it's a rant because of those globalist traitors and the lies they have pushed have about ruined it all. I *care* about my neighbors, even the ones I don't know personally, and it is hurting them and will continue to hurt them and it is going to get much worse...hence..the ranting tone. It is deserved, they deserve it. You watch once the buck slides down even more how much folks will be hurting because of fast price rises, just wait and see. This has been around 30 years or so in the making, and everything the bears (and me) said way back when is coming true, because it followed a simple logical progression and it clearly violated the number one principle of wealth-wealth is grown, mined, or manufactured, you can't busy work paper shuffle your way to wealth, not for very long anyway,that is a grifter's scam and is what they have been doing with their toxic waste paper financial products games that they pushed after they sold off and gave away the robust manufacturing base. I guess you had to see
I said what I said because it isn't theory to me or something I have to lookup on wikipedia, I can remember. You just keep on believing the wallstreet hustlers, they never lie....they are only out for you and the working dude....in fact, they are near charities! You just go on thinking 30 year mortgages are better and a better deal for people rather than 10 year mortgages (and paying near 50% of your income on housing is better than 25%), or that 5 year car loans are better now than 12 or 18 month car loans, or that health insurance so cheap that guys went door to door selling it and you had to go *out of your freekin way* to try and find a crappy job that didn't have it, is worse than today. You go ahead and compare an economy where one low to medium paying blue collar job was enough for a home and car and college education for multiple kids and vacations and still have enough left over for a good savings account, why, today two blue collar incomes to not do that is so much better, with added bonus some strangers raise your kids!
Sorry, I just can't relate to casino huckerstism, it is the most obvious of congames. We have an economy now designed to make billionaires out of millionaires and they've kept it propped up by selling off the seed corn and issuing credit and printing up dollars by the boatload. The dollar is worth shit and falling so fast we are in peril of it being the "petrodollar" for not much longer, and once that happens, have fun, great depression version 2 on crack and steroids.
We had a 50 state internal "common market" where we free traded around and it worked, because there wasn't a huge skewed difference in cost of living and pay scales, and by not exporting the cash so much it acted as a monetary force multiplier. Now? So far in debt they might as well give it up declare bankruptcy, print up more zeroes on the bills and pay them all off with the toilet paper it will be and start to rebuild.
Really, I am sorry, but you are pushing what is in essence a cult like mantra pushed by the masterminds who now need "liquidity injections" to stay solvent. They are *thieves* man, grifters, at the highest level, and I can't help it if you can't see it yet, but you are obviously hooked, swalloed that bait bigtime. ooh, and you mentioned dipshit north korea! Like that is the only other example or implying the US used to be like that? Whatever, it was lame, stupid really...sorry.. My only advice for you is step away from whatever you are reading and start from scratch with an open mind and go back and look at history, talk to a lot of older folks who aren't MBA wall street shills and assholes. You'll get a different perspective. We had hoovervilles a long time ago, and increasingly we are now starting to see "bushvilles", and you can look that one up. The economy is skewing from building the middle class to destroying the middle class in favor of just two classes, it is pure feudalistic in nature.
Here's a real big clue -> "debt" is not "produced wealth". When the US really produced wealth, and we were building the largest most truly wealthy middle class ever seen, we were the largest creditor nation..now it is the opposite. The exact opposite. That is the most basic simple clue I can offer. Being in hock past your eyeballs is just never a real swift move. Have a good day.
I think the past couple months of economic headlines are putting to rest that notion that destroying your manufacturing base is a good idea. We were a lot better off when a lot more stuff *was* US made.
They make windows just for that, they are double pane with a small venetian blind thingee in between the panes. Too hot or bright, you can crank it all the way closed or leave it partial for *some* light. Cold outside you can open it all the way to let some warmth in.
You could also get a whiteboard for "conferencing" and set it up in front of the window for a sunshade if your office cow-orkers agree.
With that said, telecommuting is where it is at. That's the greenest of all, no need for huge office buildings* as much, no need for millions to be forced to commute every work day twice. then at home you can really adjust your office like you want it.
*if I was a share holder in one of these companies that wasted millions on some egotrip office building just to have drones pushing electrons around on the screen, then the constant expense and maintenance I'd be getting lawyers and thinking about trying to force some serious changes. In this information age, having the typists (whatever the heck they type) have to go to the office is silly. That was OK back in manual typewriter days and no fast way to move documents around except by courier and like pony express, but with good net connections and faxes and printers, etc I question the over all huge need of tons of those sorts of jobs to have to be done "downtown" all the time. Big fat waste, bigger than the SUVs people rail on about all the time (although that is part of it when they get used as commuter cars), it just over-all wastes energy, wastes time commuting, wastes resources building most of those stoopid towers, wastes energy driving or taking some subway or bus, etc. It is archaic and "dilutes shareholder value" because they could use that money for something else..like paying dividends! Actually be able to pay all the workers more money! Imstead, "my 'member' is bigger than your member" ego trip office towers that cost buhzillions with big signs on top MEGACORPS! shining to outerspace all night.
It's mostly a joke.
Big huge cities are archaic for the most part as well, there's just inertia and big money behind maintaining that sort of business, and it goes all the way back to seaports and moving things by boat or ox cart, so trade centers built up around those areas, because that was it, the only way stuff moved. Not like that anymore. We still need seaports...but we don't need to cram all the workers there. Some yes, all, absolutely not.
Granted, eventually you'll have to treplace the batts, but if they last ten years and the R&D goes on for ten years, I imagine tomorrow's prices will be considerable less for better quality batteries. And like gas cars, they will depreciate as you drive them off the lot, probably unless you get a collector car, like these first run Teslas will be. I don't see anyone actually losing money on them if they can afford the upfront costs. And for that matter, anyone who can afford one of these cars could also afford a solar rig setup to keep them charged, eventually that is paid off and it is more or less free driving.
The government will most likely go to odometer readings to charge taxes though, that will screw with your cost per mile again.
No free lunch, but you can get a cheaper lunch, and going all electric with personal production means eventually at least the cost of the fuel will be free, just leaving minimal maintenance and taxes.
I am not sure, but I bet the cheapest way right now for joe sixpack to get a functional all electric car that isn't exotic or supremely cobjobbed would be to get a well used prius, rip out the gas engine and tank (save them for later, see next), add additional batteries, now you have a full electric with some legs and it weighs less most likely. I don't know if anyone has done this yet, I know they made plugins that mean you lose most cargo space for the additional batts, but carrying around two engines, the ICE and the electric, plus the gas tank, plus the batteries, is just lame, it works but it is stoopid, twice as much weight as you want or need. The hybrid idea is OK- but not in the same frame, it is ridiculous really. The ICE and fuel tank need to be in a small trailer for trips, most of the time around town and commuting you can leave it unattached and just run pure electric. I could even see people not even buying the ICE trailer part if they only needed it a few times a year and just renting it on the odd weekends they need one.
They could drop a bunch of repeaters in the area as well with the bugs, disguised as who knows what, a pile of dog crap, pine cones, whatever. The humans don't have to be right close by with wireless. They fly those predator attack drones from across the planet.
If you think that there is a lack of science videos suitable for young folks, go ahead, make them yourself then upload to googtube. Your kids will then think you are *cool* as well. I suggest copying Mr. Lizard and blow some stuff up in every episode, this will insure they pay attention. It won't matter the subject, everything in science has a potential to be blown up! %^)
Lighting is around 1/5th of US electricity production, of that, around half is for commercial lighting, residential about a quarter. Here is a semi recent breakdown US lighting stats
I wonder how much of that commercial figure is for..well.. for spam signage burning all night? I live out in the medium sticks but whenever I go to town that is the huge impression I get, tons of "buy me-acme stuff!" signs running all night long, even when the store/business isn't open. I also *seriously* question the business case or actual need for these thousands of office towers where people have to commute to and from every work day so they can sit in front of a screen and type stuff and read stuff. I think we could save just cubic boatloads of energy if they would actually *implement* the infrastructure for the "information age" and have millions of office commuters just work from home. Much less driving, eliminate a lot of the artificial "need" for the big fatcat ego towers (which have to be paid for and that is reflected in higher costs to the consumer for whatever widget they sell). I know some of that commuting is necessary, but all of it? I bet that if there was a real tax credit for homeworkers that they would discover real quick like that millions more could work where they live.
When the OLPC was first announced, there was tremendous support for it..but you couldn't get one. The OLPC project basically said eat manure, you won't get one no matter what. Then, as time went on and about zero "sales", they reluctantly had the 100% markup limited run G1G1 and even then they couldn't fill their orders, people are still waiting for product. They are approaching governments asking them to commit to a million units, before they had anything to show them. Does not compute.
Economies of scale and getting the dang things on the market would have worked.
Devs don't want to develop when they can't even buy one! In the meantime, asus took the same basic idea, just built one and put it on the market, and selling like proverbial hotcakes. OLPC might have had a few smart people involved, but had no idea of how to actually sell anything, and now they are stuck and have to go hat in hand groveling to microsoft for some peanuts handouts. How freaking embarrassing for them.
All those dipsquat developing world poohbahs would have been falling over themselves lining up with big orders and checkbooks if the thing had hit the generic international market and taken off like the asus, and they wouldn't have cared if it was "windows" or not then. Envy is a powerful force in this world. Look at Iphone mania, black market and gray market is just as strong as white market there. Why? Word of mouth, buzz, envy, "gottahaveit"-itis. The XO folks simply messed up trying to sell a lot of units *because they refused to sell any units* unless you bought like a buhzillion of them. Crazy! Nuts! They could have sold millions by now and any developer problems would have been self correcting then.
Conventional sources have had decades of government subsidies. For example AFAIK, there isn't a single commercial nuke plant out there (US) that has all private insurance, the government insures them for big failure, plus the government picked up the billions of dollars (in 1950s and 60s money) tab to even develop the things in the first place. Centralized magecorpos grid electricity relies on land seizures with no compensation to the owners for powerlines. buncha stuff. Back in ye olden days (1920s) they *forced* people to give up their early model windchargers (there was a really robust market then too) if they wanted to add into the grid. Basically killed that market off on purpose to prop up the fatcats who wanted to send you a bill every month forever. Anyway, here's an overview site: http://www.taxpayer.net/energy/oil-gas.htm
So, as a corollary, if conventional sources were really cheap, they wouldn't have needed subsidies, and decentralized "green" power would have done much better (rent, or build equity and own, two choices there)
You really don't need the grid tie if you just want to (completely) isolate one circuit in your house, and run that solar and batteries and do-dads, etc. Other options, how about those electric lawn mowers? You could keep one of those charged up. You can keep some deepcycle batteries charged for use when the power goes out (I do this myself), run your laptop with a car adapter and the radio and some 12 VDC lights, whatever. You can get some *really spiffy* efficient food freezers now that are designed to run from one good panel. http://www.sundanzer.com/ -that is a "cool" idea methinks. Practical.
Diesels because of the higher compression tend to be built much tougher than gassers. They also have higher torque per cubic inch displacement over equivalent sized gassers. The engines typically last for more hours/miles.(most designs, some really bad ones were just pitiful like those GM diesel conversions way back). with that said, sure, you can get both good mileage and a long lasting gasser engine, there's been some amazing advances in materials science/engineering/chemistry in the last few decades. You can get 300 bhp cars now that get a lot better mileage than 300 bhp cars way back when. They are more complex under the hood, but don't need as much maintenance. But newer vehicles fail hard, no degrading slowly, it is drives/no drives today mostly, no more "shoot, running rough, need a tuneup!" action like when I was first started to drive. (that was poking the sabre toothed badgers hooked up to the buggy in the ass with a stick and going "Mush, mule, heyaa! go!, now, ((**&^% go!;)) We got two mountain crosses per haunch of wild musk ox and *we liked it*
The SSDs are getting better/cheaper/faster/larger all the time and part of the interest is that they are much more robust/less fragile and use a lot less electricity. [bad car analogy] A Ferrari is faster but it can't do the same work nor is as tough as the F450 we got, and I bet the F450 with the diesel engine gets better mileage while doing that work [/bad analogy]
Just yesterday I was searching around to see if there was any extension or add-on which would automatically load the "print this page" version instead of the full bloat version, as I am stuck on dialup here and man, most of the web is a pain now, and it gets worse all the time. Even with images turned off. I checked accessibility sites, etc, thinking maybe something developed for the blind. It is pretty dismal, those places emphasize screen readers and audio conversions. Closest I found was some greasemonkey scripts that have to be tailored to individual websites. Google has a low res search function, but it still isn't the same deal. It makes no sense to have to go to the full bloat version, wait for it to finish downloading, then hunt around for the print version, that's backwards for what you need in trying to help speed things up. If there was an HTML attribute added to the page so right off the bat you could be redirected the print only simple version, it would be acceptable. Slashdot is not too bad using the low res version, not bad at all really. BBC is pretty good too, but they are in the minority.
I agree with you on the Flash, it is by far one of the main culprits out there for bloat-age, and it is a catch 22 to avoid it. You can use Flashblock, but that means leaving javascripting turned on, which leaves you open to all sorts of other nasty page slowing "features" (and potential security issues). And if the website owners are worried about losing ad revenue, nothing stopping them from putting text only simple ads on the low res version pages.
The Asus eeePC is a runaway smash hit and all the first versions shipped with linux. Which means they weren't vista. That's more than 0%. Granted, they are dragging out some sort of XP training bra version to fit it in for some people, but the first foray was pure linux. (for this observation I will take a minilaptop as part of joe consumers personal home computers, which is what I think you meant, that market)
We have this huge security industry that by default is always one step behind the level they need to be at. There's little to no accountability anywhere though. If no one is at fault for designing and pushing bad products, then why bother with the security at all then? It never actually works all that well "in the field", the existence of huge botnets prove this. And I think it is because software releases that have no accountability to them encourage just more of the same. At a minimum it should be clearly labeled, such and such is suitable for exposure to the internet, such and such is not.
I ran Mac classic for years, with little to no worries, despite hoots of derision from my windows friends that it was a "toy" system, yet they were the ones who had constant security issues andf I had none. It was just designed different, and even taking numbers out of the discussion, it was inherently much more difficult to get root or ownership of classic over the wide open nature of MS (I never used linux back then so cannot comment) AFAIK, if you had sharing turned off, to this day there is still no remote code execution pwnership possible, none I have heard of anyway, never been done or shown. For example sub7 could run as a client (attacker) but not as a server (pwned victim). That wasn't "obscurity", it was because they couldn't figure out how to get root when getting root was made near impossible by design up front, which would have made it more practical to offer a warranty at the time for "suitable for use on the internet". I paid for that security and for knowing that by gum if something said it ran on mac, it sure did (ease of use, I fooled with windows, major icky stuff, and I don't game so that eliminated any need to run windows). And once you grokked extension sets and adjusting your ram usage app by app, it ran just fine, with hardly any worries and no need for bug detection, firewalls, etc. To me, that shows it is more possible than current levels of coding, it has gone backwards to a great degree (maybe open BSD is the exception there), and when they went to the less secure osx, I just went ahead and switched to free linux, as I was not going to pay for a digression (and my last mac machine wouldn't even run osx for that matter).
I see the willingness to have stuff that is perhaps faster outweighing security concerns, and just don't agree with that. And given I have no legal or practical protection whatsoever from *any* operating system or software beng offered to joe regular consumer, all of it contains the "neener, neener, nothing is our fault, sucker!" disclaimer, I had to go with cheap/free as the best defense and most practical way to go forward.
Back to the appliance concept, I still think that is the easiest way to make internet surfing more secure, if there is nothing to write to except RAM, and that is more locked down with permissions anyway (even to the point of making the browser be its own user), that would bring it closer to truly plug and no need to pray, which is where they need to be at for most folks usages. I don't think computers as they sell them now will ever be able to be made secure until they switch philosphies and treat them as application appliances.
That's an easy one, whomever you handed the cash to for your OS or the third party application that hosed you. If they in turn turned around and blamed someone else in their vendor stack, so be it, such is the nature of cutthroat predatory capitalism. It is the system we have, the software snakeoil peddlers just want the "caveat emptor" exclusion. So far, they have it, eventually, someone who got really took and has deep pockets and is finally fed up enough with the ridiculous EULA nonsense is going to break the back of the bugware cartel, then things will change for the better for both the consumer and the actual coders. For some almost do-nothing "shareholders" of macrobugware, inc., I wouldn't give crap one about them and their short term profits over peoples misery and frustration with being forced to endure perpetual betaware. You can type your fingers to the nubbins in defense of crapware, but the fact remains, they are the last so called "industry" put there that isn't being required to have warranties, yet they want full and complete and extensive legal protection for their profits, trademarks, patents, copyrights, "IP" and etc. My opinion, and your responses just intensify it, is it's a half-scam industry that has grown up thinking they are "special" with every excuse in the book to prove they are special, so now it is hard coded into their corporate and personal DNA defense of selling and shilling bugsqueezings because "that's the best they can do". Well, so far, ya, it appears so, there's no actuall quality as job 1 out there that I can see. Closed source is "good enough to look like it works, ship it". Open source is "we know it is always broken someplace, but it's free, ship it fast and often". No other options, expensive betaware, or free betaware.
How would you like every other industry out there to have the same deal, would you be feeling lucky then? Would you even come close to trusting your food and water and electrical appliances and cars and so on, if all of those guys were allowed to just post some ridiculous disclaimer that "this product is not suitable for purpose", and so on? You just want total free and unrestricted trade with no forced warranties, no inspections, pure caveat emptor? Or just for software? You have a vested interest in that, it is your job perhaps?
Now personally, I *used* to pay for software, for years and years, I even paid for all my shareware cepting one that turned into abandoned ware with no contact info (which makes me a rather odd person to be sure I guess), I don't pirate a thing, but now I use free and Free open source, so I have no recourse over the stuff I paid zero money for if it screws up. That's my tradeoff, I stopped being willing to pay rather decent sums for two cents of digital copies of half baked stuff,and I am willing to accept perpetual betaware as long as I don't have to pay for it. If I did though, bet your bippy some snakeoil peddler jerks would have been in court a long time ago, the first time I suffered any loss due to the lack of quality in some typed up alleged "product". I haven't suffered a loss, because mainly I always refused to use "the big gorilla" or any applications that even touched the big gorilla, I just shy away from obvious pure manure, like it always has been.
It is going to happen someday, bet on it, all the businesses out there who have gotten burnt and reburnt over the years with crapware...some big billionaire boss is just going to go ENOUGH and get the ball rolling in court and challenge this exclusion, or some powerful senator or something.
And he is going to win.
You worst case scare scenarios not withstanding, the jury and or judge is going to go "this expensive software stuff is pure crap, they lie through their teeth constantly and make billions, their expert witnesses are using smoke and mirrors and razzle dazzle,so... for the plaintiff!"
Enjoy the good times and phat checks while they last, someday it is going to be smaller checks for mo
PS3 uses the CELL processor built with 8 cores and one is disabled, leaving you with 7 cores-one for the OS and 6 for games/apps. And it will boot and run a linux image, yellowdog, which is a ported centos. So there ya go, you can buy one if you want one. There's more exact specs at the links, that is a basic and probably sort of flawed summary.
Slashdot Mirror
..they had different names for which browser on which OS. Just saying firefox gets confusing, because they are different. -> "what ya driving?" "a ford" "well ya, but *which* ford, the one that just had the huge recall, or what?"
Frankly, I'd like to see a major split/fork and have the FF linux devs just go their own way and be done with it and not have to be part of trying to make stuff work on windows so they can have universal releases all the time. And change the name.
Linux is something like nearly half the servers in existence and most of the top supercomputers. Desktop is a slower road of course, but it is still chugging along slowly but surely. Look at apple, originally a big percentage of desktops, then dropped to almost nothing, now inching its way back up because it got good. Stuff changes. The linux desktop market is big enough for there to be a lot of credible choices just within "linux" itself, there are half a dozen or so really good desktops and dozens of pretty good desktop linuxes out there now. And word gets around. It will be like FF, 0% to now upwards of one quarter to one half depending on where you look around the planet. There's some magic number that is hard to pinpoint but once anything reaches a certain level of use/adoption it really takes off then, usually near as I can see around 10%, then it makes huge jumps. Bad car analogy time, toyota prius is now more than one million cars sold from zero cars ten years ago, and the first with a mass market hybrid system that they really tried to make and sell in decent numbers (compared to honda for example who only fooled around with their insight). Now look, all the major manufacturers either have their own hybrids or will have them shortly. Ten years, that's all it takes once some threshold hits and it looks "real" to joe consumer to go from exotic to normal. I think this year the asus eeePC made linux "real" to a lot of people, so I am expecting ubiquitous linux as a choice to be along shortly with most computer makers as an option. And that is leaving out all the gadgets people use day to day running some smallish embedded linux, gps systems, cellphones, etc.
I've had an ATM machine tell me that I had thousands more in my account than what I knew I had. I had pulled a few jacksons for running around cash and the receipt showing the balance made my eyes pop! Yowza, jackpot! heh heh heh. Checked a few hours later and it was gone. (No, I made no attempt to go withdraw it) I've always wondered what sort of shenanigans were going on, if it was a real mistake or some sort of involved high level money laundering deal going on.
The electric company down here had a wireless option a while ago (don't know if it still exists), where you got cellphone coverage plus normal licensed band 2-way radio in the same unit, meaning you could talk either with normal cellphone *or* push to talk direct to other subscribers and across their multi state network of repeaters.
OK- checked, still exists http://www.southernlinc.com/index.asp
Article on industrial helium. Abundant in the universe, but only a few practical supply points on the globe. http://news-info.wustl.edu/tips/page/normal/10754.html
I told you I *remember*. Short mortgages and short car notes where the norm, not the exception. One chump change blue collar job was plenty of money to support a large family with just one spouse working, with full benefits, good savings accounts, being able to afford all those kids going to college, and etc. Now, think the economy can match that? I sure ain't seeing it. when I was a younger dude, two spouses working was *rare*, it just wasn't necessary, not a bit.
I've been listening to these globalist pirates lies for decades now. What do you dispute? That we aren't now the world's largest debtor nation, when a few decades ago we were the largest creditor nation? You catch the news the other day, they are projecting next year that 10% of the entire US population will be receiving food assistance. That's a good economy? You think crappy alleged service jobs and government make work jobs are actually better than the nuts and bolts manufacturing jobs with full benefits they shipped away by the multi millions?? Because that is all that is gaining is mostly McJobs and government drone jobs. Our biggest automakers slide nearer to being just totally bankrupt, always years behind the curve, because they got moribund, lead by wallstreet pirates and corrupt union heads out for short term profits with no forward looking. We got banks needing bailouts from the Fed on *huge* scales, and despite the bailouts tons of them are laying off right and left. This is good? You actually think having to bailout the largest banks is clear sign of a great thriving economy? You really expect me to dig upo links for that basic information, that's been in all the headlines for months now? We have personal bankruptcies and mortgage defaults at the highest levels in generations. the dollar continues to drop in worth daily, personal savings are at the lowest point since the great depression. This is good? that's all verifiable stuff but I ain't someone's personal google researcher either. this is basic, normal headlines information, I just have a memory that covers a longer timespan and can remember what stuff was like when the US actually made most of the stuff we found in the stores, and the economy was just overall better then. the drop has come about exactly parallel with killing off huge segments of the manufacturing base. Look at textiles, or furniture making, mostly gone. Hells bells, we don't even make ball bearing in the US anymore, or even TVs. Noprmal manufactuing things or normal consumer products. Mostly gone.
Is it all gone, nope, OK- I admit that, it isn't "all" gone, but ton of it gone and a lot of folks hurting and is the economy heavily skewed way towards the more controller class than ever? Heck ya it is and you'd have to be drinking more than a glass of that globalist koolaid to not admit it.
Now fair trade I could see, but this bullcrap they puish called "free" trade? Nope, scam, conjob, selling off the seedcorn, pawning your tools, just stupid.
Sure, I admit it is a rant, but that's all true stuff and it's a rant because of those globalist traitors and the lies they have pushed have about ruined it all. I *care* about my neighbors, even the ones I don't know personally, and it is hurting them and will continue to hurt them and it is going to get much worse...hence..the ranting tone. It is deserved, they deserve it. You watch once the buck slides down even more how much folks will be hurting because of fast price rises, just wait and see. This has been around 30 years or so in the making, and everything the bears (and me) said way back when is coming true, because it followed a simple logical progression and it clearly violated the number one principle of wealth-wealth is grown, mined, or manufactured, you can't busy work paper shuffle your way to wealth, not for very long anyway,that is a grifter's scam and is what they have been doing with their toxic waste paper financial products games that they pushed after they sold off and gave away the robust manufacturing base. I guess you had to see
I said what I said because it isn't theory to me or something I have to lookup on wikipedia, I can remember. You just keep on believing the wallstreet hustlers, they never lie....they are only out for you and the working dude....in fact, they are near charities! You just go on thinking 30 year mortgages are better and a better deal for people rather than 10 year mortgages (and paying near 50% of your income on housing is better than 25%), or that 5 year car loans are better now than 12 or 18 month car loans, or that health insurance so cheap that guys went door to door selling it and you had to go *out of your freekin way* to try and find a crappy job that didn't have it, is worse than today. You go ahead and compare an economy where one low to medium paying blue collar job was enough for a home and car and college education for multiple kids and vacations and still have enough left over for a good savings account, why, today two blue collar incomes to not do that is so much better, with added bonus some strangers raise your kids!
Sorry, I just can't relate to casino huckerstism, it is the most obvious of congames. We have an economy now designed to make billionaires out of millionaires and they've kept it propped up by selling off the seed corn and issuing credit and printing up dollars by the boatload. The dollar is worth shit and falling so fast we are in peril of it being the "petrodollar" for not much longer, and once that happens, have fun, great depression version 2 on crack and steroids.
We had a 50 state internal "common market" where we free traded around and it worked, because there wasn't a huge skewed difference in cost of living and pay scales, and by not exporting the cash so much it acted as a monetary force multiplier. Now? So far in debt they might as well give it up declare bankruptcy, print up more zeroes on the bills and pay them all off with the toilet paper it will be and start to rebuild.
Really, I am sorry, but you are pushing what is in essence a cult like mantra pushed by the masterminds who now need "liquidity injections" to stay solvent. They are *thieves* man, grifters, at the highest level, and I can't help it if you can't see it yet, but you are obviously hooked, swalloed that bait bigtime. ooh, and you mentioned dipshit north korea! Like that is the only other example or implying the US used to be like that? Whatever, it was lame, stupid really...sorry.. My only advice for you is step away from whatever you are reading and start from scratch with an open mind and go back and look at history, talk to a lot of older folks who aren't MBA wall street shills and assholes. You'll get a different perspective. We had hoovervilles a long time ago, and increasingly we are now starting to see "bushvilles", and you can look that one up. The economy is skewing from building the middle class to destroying the middle class in favor of just two classes, it is pure feudalistic in nature.
Here's a real big clue -> "debt" is not "produced wealth". When the US really produced wealth, and we were building the largest most truly wealthy middle class ever seen, we were the largest creditor nation..now it is the opposite. The exact opposite. That is the most basic simple clue I can offer. Being in hock past your eyeballs is just never a real swift move. Have a good day.
I think the past couple months of economic headlines are putting to rest that notion that destroying your manufacturing base is a good idea. We were a lot better off when a lot more stuff *was* US made.
...normal desktops or laptops that use that ARM?
They make windows just for that, they are double pane with a small venetian blind thingee in between the panes. Too hot or bright, you can crank it all the way closed or leave it partial for *some* light. Cold outside you can open it all the way to let some warmth in.
You could also get a whiteboard for "conferencing" and set it up in front of the window for a sunshade if your office cow-orkers agree.
With that said, telecommuting is where it is at. That's the greenest of all, no need for huge office buildings* as much, no need for millions to be forced to commute every work day twice. then at home you can really adjust your office like you want it.
*if I was a share holder in one of these companies that wasted millions on some egotrip office building just to have drones pushing electrons around on the screen, then the constant expense and maintenance I'd be getting lawyers and thinking about trying to force some serious changes. In this information age, having the typists (whatever the heck they type) have to go to the office is silly. That was OK back in manual typewriter days and no fast way to move documents around except by courier and like pony express, but with good net connections and faxes and printers, etc I question the over all huge need of tons of those sorts of jobs to have to be done "downtown" all the time. Big fat waste, bigger than the SUVs people rail on about all the time (although that is part of it when they get used as commuter cars), it just over-all wastes energy, wastes time commuting, wastes resources building most of those stoopid towers, wastes energy driving or taking some subway or bus, etc. It is archaic and "dilutes shareholder value" because they could use that money for something else..like paying dividends! Actually be able to pay all the workers more money! Imstead, "my 'member' is bigger than your member" ego trip office towers that cost buhzillions with big signs on top MEGACORPS! shining to outerspace all night.
It's mostly a joke.
Big huge cities are archaic for the most part as well, there's just inertia and big money behind maintaining that sort of business, and it goes all the way back to seaports and moving things by boat or ox cart, so trade centers built up around those areas, because that was it, the only way stuff moved. Not like that anymore. We still need seaports...but we don't need to cram all the workers there. Some yes, all, absolutely not.
It is much cheaper to get the equivalent energy at average US electric rates per mile driven then using either gasoline or diesel. It is something ludicrously cheaper like a few cents a mile. couple of quick googlized refs here http://www.ecoworld.com/blog/2006/08/04/electric-car-cost-per-mile/
http://auto.howstuffworks.com/electric-car1.htm
Granted, eventually you'll have to treplace the batts, but if they last ten years and the R&D goes on for ten years, I imagine tomorrow's prices will be considerable less for better quality batteries. And like gas cars, they will depreciate as you drive them off the lot, probably unless you get a collector car, like these first run Teslas will be. I don't see anyone actually losing money on them if they can afford the upfront costs. And for that matter, anyone who can afford one of these cars could also afford a solar rig setup to keep them charged, eventually that is paid off and it is more or less free driving.
The government will most likely go to odometer readings to charge taxes though, that will screw with your cost per mile again.
No free lunch, but you can get a cheaper lunch, and going all electric with personal production means eventually at least the cost of the fuel will be free, just leaving minimal maintenance and taxes.
I am not sure, but I bet the cheapest way right now for joe sixpack to get a functional all electric car that isn't exotic or supremely cobjobbed would be to get a well used prius, rip out the gas engine and tank (save them for later, see next), add additional batteries, now you have a full electric with some legs and it weighs less most likely. I don't know if anyone has done this yet, I know they made plugins that mean you lose most cargo space for the additional batts, but carrying around two engines, the ICE and the electric, plus the gas tank, plus the batteries, is just lame, it works but it is stoopid, twice as much weight as you want or need. The hybrid idea is OK- but not in the same frame, it is ridiculous really. The ICE and fuel tank need to be in a small trailer for trips, most of the time around town and commuting you can leave it unattached and just run pure electric. I could even see people not even buying the ICE trailer part if they only needed it a few times a year and just renting it on the odd weekends they need one.
They could drop a bunch of repeaters in the area as well with the bugs, disguised as who knows what, a pile of dog crap, pine cones, whatever. The humans don't have to be right close by with wireless. They fly those predator attack drones from across the planet.
Wil Wheaton
If you think that there is a lack of science videos suitable for young folks, go ahead, make them yourself then upload to googtube. Your kids will then think you are *cool* as well. I suggest copying Mr. Lizard and blow some stuff up in every episode, this will insure they pay attention. It won't matter the subject, everything in science has a potential to be blown up! %^)
Lighting is around 1/5th of US electricity production, of that, around half is for commercial lighting, residential about a quarter. Here is a semi recent breakdown US lighting stats
I wonder how much of that commercial figure is for..well.. for spam signage burning all night? I live out in the medium sticks but whenever I go to town that is the huge impression I get, tons of "buy me-acme stuff!" signs running all night long, even when the store/business isn't open. I also *seriously* question the business case or actual need for these thousands of office towers where people have to commute to and from every work day so they can sit in front of a screen and type stuff and read stuff. I think we could save just cubic boatloads of energy if they would actually *implement* the infrastructure for the "information age" and have millions of office commuters just work from home. Much less driving, eliminate a lot of the artificial "need" for the big fatcat ego towers (which have to be paid for and that is reflected in higher costs to the consumer for whatever widget they sell). I know some of that commuting is necessary, but all of it? I bet that if there was a real tax credit for homeworkers that they would discover real quick like that millions more could work where they live.
When the OLPC was first announced, there was tremendous support for it..but you couldn't get one. The OLPC project basically said eat manure, you won't get one no matter what. Then, as time went on and about zero "sales", they reluctantly had the 100% markup limited run G1G1 and even then they couldn't fill their orders, people are still waiting for product. They are approaching governments asking them to commit to a million units, before they had anything to show them. Does not compute.
Economies of scale and getting the dang things on the market would have worked.
Devs don't want to develop when they can't even buy one! In the meantime, asus took the same basic idea, just built one and put it on the market, and selling like proverbial hotcakes. OLPC might have had a few smart people involved, but had no idea of how to actually sell anything, and now they are stuck and have to go hat in hand groveling to microsoft for some peanuts handouts. How freaking embarrassing for them.
All those dipsquat developing world poohbahs would have been falling over themselves lining up with big orders and checkbooks if the thing had hit the generic international market and taken off like the asus, and they wouldn't have cared if it was "windows" or not then. Envy is a powerful force in this world. Look at Iphone mania, black market and gray market is just as strong as white market there. Why? Word of mouth, buzz, envy, "gottahaveit"-itis. The XO folks simply messed up trying to sell a lot of units *because they refused to sell any units* unless you bought like a buhzillion of them. Crazy! Nuts! They could have sold millions by now and any developer problems would have been self correcting then.
Conventional sources have had decades of government subsidies. For example AFAIK, there isn't a single commercial nuke plant out there (US) that has all private insurance, the government insures them for big failure, plus the government picked up the billions of dollars (in 1950s and 60s money) tab to even develop the things in the first place. Centralized magecorpos grid electricity relies on land seizures with no compensation to the owners for powerlines. buncha stuff. Back in ye olden days (1920s) they *forced* people to give up their early model windchargers (there was a really robust market then too) if they wanted to add into the grid. Basically killed that market off on purpose to prop up the fatcats who wanted to send you a bill every month forever. Anyway, here's an overview site: http://www.taxpayer.net/energy/oil-gas.htm
So, as a corollary, if conventional sources were really cheap, they wouldn't have needed subsidies, and decentralized "green" power would have done much better (rent, or build equity and own, two choices there)
You really don't need the grid tie if you just want to (completely) isolate one circuit in your house, and run that solar and batteries and do-dads, etc. Other options, how about those electric lawn mowers? You could keep one of those charged up. You can keep some deepcycle batteries charged for use when the power goes out (I do this myself), run your laptop with a car adapter and the radio and some 12 VDC lights, whatever. You can get some *really spiffy* efficient food freezers now that are designed to run from one good panel. http://www.sundanzer.com/ -that is a "cool" idea methinks. Practical.
Diesels because of the higher compression tend to be built much tougher than gassers. They also have higher torque per cubic inch displacement over equivalent sized gassers. The engines typically last for more hours/miles.(most designs, some really bad ones were just pitiful like those GM diesel conversions way back). with that said, sure, you can get both good mileage and a long lasting gasser engine, there's been some amazing advances in materials science/engineering/chemistry in the last few decades. You can get 300 bhp cars now that get a lot better mileage than 300 bhp cars way back when. They are more complex under the hood, but don't need as much maintenance. But newer vehicles fail hard, no degrading slowly, it is drives/no drives today mostly, no more "shoot, running rough, need a tuneup!" action like when I was first started to drive. (that was poking the sabre toothed badgers hooked up to the buggy in the ass with a stick and going "Mush, mule, heyaa! go!, now, ((**&^% go! ;)) We got two mountain crosses per haunch of wild musk ox and *we liked it*
The SSDs are getting better/cheaper/faster/larger all the time and part of the interest is that they are much more robust/less fragile and use a lot less electricity. [bad car analogy] A Ferrari is faster but it can't do the same work nor is as tough as the F450 we got, and I bet the F450 with the diesel engine gets better mileage while doing that work [/bad analogy]
Just yesterday I was searching around to see if there was any extension or add-on which would automatically load the "print this page" version instead of the full bloat version, as I am stuck on dialup here and man, most of the web is a pain now, and it gets worse all the time. Even with images turned off. I checked accessibility sites, etc, thinking maybe something developed for the blind. It is pretty dismal, those places emphasize screen readers and audio conversions. Closest I found was some greasemonkey scripts that have to be tailored to individual websites. Google has a low res search function, but it still isn't the same deal. It makes no sense to have to go to the full bloat version, wait for it to finish downloading, then hunt around for the print version, that's backwards for what you need in trying to help speed things up. If there was an HTML attribute added to the page so right off the bat you could be redirected the print only simple version, it would be acceptable. Slashdot is not too bad using the low res version, not bad at all really. BBC is pretty good too, but they are in the minority.
I agree with you on the Flash, it is by far one of the main culprits out there for bloat-age, and it is a catch 22 to avoid it. You can use Flashblock, but that means leaving javascripting turned on, which leaves you open to all sorts of other nasty page slowing "features" (and potential security issues). And if the website owners are worried about losing ad revenue, nothing stopping them from putting text only simple ads on the low res version pages.
The Asus eeePC is a runaway smash hit and all the first versions shipped with linux. Which means they weren't vista. That's more than 0%. Granted, they are dragging out some sort of XP training bra version to fit it in for some people, but the first foray was pure linux. (for this observation I will take a minilaptop as part of joe consumers personal home computers, which is what I think you meant, that market)
We have this huge security industry that by default is always one step behind the level they need to be at. There's little to no accountability anywhere though. If no one is at fault for designing and pushing bad products, then why bother with the security at all then? It never actually works all that well "in the field", the existence of huge botnets prove this. And I think it is because software releases that have no accountability to them encourage just more of the same. At a minimum it should be clearly labeled, such and such is suitable for exposure to the internet, such and such is not.
I ran Mac classic for years, with little to no worries, despite hoots of derision from my windows friends that it was a "toy" system, yet they were the ones who had constant security issues andf I had none. It was just designed different, and even taking numbers out of the discussion, it was inherently much more difficult to get root or ownership of classic over the wide open nature of MS (I never used linux back then so cannot comment) AFAIK, if you had sharing turned off, to this day there is still no remote code execution pwnership possible, none I have heard of anyway, never been done or shown. For example sub7 could run as a client (attacker) but not as a server (pwned victim). That wasn't "obscurity", it was because they couldn't figure out how to get root when getting root was made near impossible by design up front, which would have made it more practical to offer a warranty at the time for "suitable for use on the internet". I paid for that security and for knowing that by gum if something said it ran on mac, it sure did (ease of use, I fooled with windows, major icky stuff, and I don't game so that eliminated any need to run windows). And once you grokked extension sets and adjusting your ram usage app by app, it ran just fine, with hardly any worries and no need for bug detection, firewalls, etc. To me, that shows it is more possible than current levels of coding, it has gone backwards to a great degree (maybe open BSD is the exception there), and when they went to the less secure osx, I just went ahead and switched to free linux, as I was not going to pay for a digression (and my last mac machine wouldn't even run osx for that matter).
I see the willingness to have stuff that is perhaps faster outweighing security concerns, and just don't agree with that. And given I have no legal or practical protection whatsoever from *any* operating system or software beng offered to joe regular consumer, all of it contains the "neener, neener, nothing is our fault, sucker!" disclaimer, I had to go with cheap/free as the best defense and most practical way to go forward.
Back to the appliance concept, I still think that is the easiest way to make internet surfing more secure, if there is nothing to write to except RAM, and that is more locked down with permissions anyway (even to the point of making the browser be its own user), that would bring it closer to truly plug and no need to pray, which is where they need to be at for most folks usages. I don't think computers as they sell them now will ever be able to be made secure until they switch philosphies and treat them as application appliances.
That's an easy one, whomever you handed the cash to for your OS or the third party application that hosed you. If they in turn turned around and blamed someone else in their vendor stack, so be it, such is the nature of cutthroat predatory capitalism. It is the system we have, the software snakeoil peddlers just want the "caveat emptor" exclusion. So far, they have it, eventually, someone who got really took and has deep pockets and is finally fed up enough with the ridiculous EULA nonsense is going to break the back of the bugware cartel, then things will change for the better for both the consumer and the actual coders. For some almost do-nothing "shareholders" of macrobugware, inc., I wouldn't give crap one about them and their short term profits over peoples misery and frustration with being forced to endure perpetual betaware. You can type your fingers to the nubbins in defense of crapware, but the fact remains, they are the last so called "industry" put there that isn't being required to have warranties, yet they want full and complete and extensive legal protection for their profits, trademarks, patents, copyrights, "IP" and etc. My opinion, and your responses just intensify it, is it's a half-scam industry that has grown up thinking they are "special" with every excuse in the book to prove they are special, so now it is hard coded into their corporate and personal DNA defense of selling and shilling bugsqueezings because "that's the best they can do". Well, so far, ya, it appears so, there's no actuall quality as job 1 out there that I can see. Closed source is "good enough to look like it works, ship it". Open source is "we know it is always broken someplace, but it's free, ship it fast and often". No other options, expensive betaware, or free betaware.
How would you like every other industry out there to have the same deal, would you be feeling lucky then? Would you even come close to trusting your food and water and electrical appliances and cars and so on, if all of those guys were allowed to just post some ridiculous disclaimer that "this product is not suitable for purpose", and so on? You just want total free and unrestricted trade with no forced warranties, no inspections, pure caveat emptor? Or just for software? You have a vested interest in that, it is your job perhaps?
Now personally, I *used* to pay for software, for years and years, I even paid for all my shareware cepting one that turned into abandoned ware with no contact info (which makes me a rather odd person to be sure I guess), I don't pirate a thing, but now I use free and Free open source, so I have no recourse over the stuff I paid zero money for if it screws up. That's my tradeoff, I stopped being willing to pay rather decent sums for two cents of digital copies of half baked stuff,and I am willing to accept perpetual betaware as long as I don't have to pay for it. If I did though, bet your bippy some snakeoil peddler jerks would have been in court a long time ago, the first time I suffered any loss due to the lack of quality in some typed up alleged "product". I haven't suffered a loss, because mainly I always refused to use "the big gorilla" or any applications that even touched the big gorilla, I just shy away from obvious pure manure, like it always has been.
It is going to happen someday, bet on it, all the businesses out there who have gotten burnt and reburnt over the years with crapware...some big billionaire boss is just going to go ENOUGH and get the ball rolling in court and challenge this exclusion, or some powerful senator or something.
And he is going to win.
You worst case scare scenarios not withstanding, the jury and or judge is going to go "this expensive software stuff is pure crap, they lie through their teeth constantly and make billions, their expert witnesses are using smoke and mirrors and razzle dazzle,so... for the plaintiff!"
Enjoy the good times and phat checks while they last, someday it is going to be smaller checks for mo
PS3 uses the CELL processor built with 8 cores and one is disabled, leaving you with 7 cores-one for the OS and 6 for games/apps. And it will boot and run a linux image, yellowdog, which is a ported centos. So there ya go, you can buy one if you want one. There's more exact specs at the links, that is a basic and probably sort of flawed summary.