For hundreds of years, the people of the United States of America have voted for our president in such a way that the views and interests of the majority of the people do not necessarily align with the views and interests of our president. The very idea that the people must choose one, and only one, person that represents their views and interests is fundamentally flawed.
In a democracy, voters should not be deterred from voting for a third party simply because by doing so they are "voting for the opposition". People should be free to vote their conscience instead of going with the most popular party line that is closest to their views, or choosing the lesser of two evils.
Using technology available today, a voting system could be developed that would allow candidates to be ranked in order of preference, so that the peoples' most preferred candidate always wins. What is the Green party's stance on reform like this, and what would it take to push such reform through the top levels of our government?
And of course they always ask for the orignal documents so they can conveniently "lose" it if they've run out of money for giving out rebates. Jerks. I've been burned by rebates too many times, even when I properly submit everything.
... that this gets posted this to Slashdot, which will probably cause everyone who reads this article will to go over to the Linux Today site to check out the offensive banners for themselves, thus generating ad impressions and revenue for Linux Today. =)
In order to fight the alleged monopoly on Chinese clothing in America, the United States government is establishing quotas for foreign clothing. While the details are still unclear, the government may require that up to 70% of clothing worn by North Americans be produced domestically. Regulations like this are, of course, expected to come under fierce criticism from the WTO.
I think this guy's work is awesome. But I can't help but be reminded of a quote from a movie I saw recently, Pirates of the Carribean:
Jack Sparrow: [looking at all the swords] Who makes all these? Will Turner: I do! And I practice with them three hours a day! Jack Sparrow: You need to find yourself a girl mate. Or perhaps the reason you practice three hours a day is that you already found one, and are otherwise incapable of wooing said strumpet. You're not a eunuch are you?
Heh. My first thought was "very clever!", but then I realized that we are the ones that are going to die if the supermarkets do the right thing and try to contact one of us... hmmm...
... that is, if, and only if they do everything at their disposal to contant you immediately about the situation. I, for one, welcome our new supermarket-management overlords. *ducks*
Seriously, though, I think I'll take a very Kant-like view on this (if I remember my Philosophy class correctly). I'll argue that since the supermarkets have this information at their disposal, it is their duty to notify their customers. The article quotes Katherine Albrecht, the founder of an organization called the the "Consumers Against Supermarket Privacy Invasion and Numbering", as saying "Sure it would be useful to have someone contact me if I bought something tainted, but at what cost? A total food-supply surveillance network?" The fatal flaw in this argument is that the supermarkets already have what she calls the "A total food-supply surveillance network". That's why you get the discounts; they are paying you for this data. Now, since they have this data, they can save your life by calling you on the phone and telling you not to eat a piece of meat you bought at their store. I believe that the ethical use of this customer data demands that at the very least they give you a call on the phone, and/or do whatever it takes to inform you that the product they sold you may put your life in danger.
Not that it would have helped me. I put a false name and number on the form when I signed up for my supermarket discount card(s). (Not that they care, as this still probably generates useful demographic data of some kind for them.) Good thing I don't eat meat.
The benefit is that sourceforge gets the money and not PayPal. Besides, some people dislike paypal and would never purchase anything through them anyway. Also, you potentially have more visibility for a "donate" feature on the sourceforge pages themselves, rather than just on the custom page for your project.
Well hidden in a menu? Wow, what Mac user would think to look there? With that kind of complexity, they might as well just have users type in a code word. Clearly Mac users are astoundingly more intelligent than anyone else on the planet.
Maybe they could put in a patch that would make Linux display a friendly blue screen when it crashes instead of a kernel panic message. Embrace and extend!
... sounds like a stripped down version of the HP de100c, (PDF manual) which, although it is no longer sold, does run linux, and is a neat little hackable box.
I think the DEC had the potential to be a really great product. Seems like it got lost somewhere in the merger... plus, when it was released a couple of years ago it was priced way out of the market. Damn shame.
IIRC, these watches only have a few hours of battery life at most. Seems obvious that this aspect would have to be improved. I guess it could be a good excuse to stop working for awhile -- "But Boss, I'm charging my watch!"
On the other hand, if it was integrated into something like a PDA, it might work better. My Palm Vx (grayscale) has a pretty damn long battery life; however I rarely use it for as long as I use a PC. Also, the fact that I turn it off when I'm done (or it shuts itself off) surely prolongs the battery life. And my Palm isn't transmitting any signals to my PC, either...
... if they want my support. I'd love to build a machine that uses less power and doesn't need a CPU fan; it'd be good for a router or a file server for my humble home office. I would use a Transmeta CPU in a heartbeat if it were available and relatively inexpensive. VIA actually offers some similar products; I used a CPU from their C3 line that advertises that it doesn't need a fan, but it isn't nearly as nifty as Transmeta's stuff. Anyway, why doesn't Transmeta start talks with competing motherboard manufacturers?
First, consider that Rational's source control products. As bloated as they can be, they run on Win32 and many flavors of *NIX.
Next, Borland does a lot of Java work. Under Microsoft's rule, this would surely slow to a trickle or be converted to the.NET platform.
Obviously, industry support for non-Microsoft platforms would be greatly reduced if these buyouts go through. Not only that, but many of the good people at Rational and Borland would be soon out of work, as Microsoft would suddenly find them irrelevant to their strategy.
Yes, I think this would be very bad for cross platform development, and the software industry in general.
As I have mentioned previously on this site, HP has the technology to do most of their own PC recycling. The only thing they can't recycle is the CRT. People pay them big money to get rid of their old equipment, then they turn around and sell the raw materials, and anything else that is reusable.
So it's no wonder that HP wants this to pass. Someone realized that they can actually *profit* from this. My guess is the swift change in HP's position was a result of some people being uninformed after the Compaq merger.
IMHO, more companies need to learn how to deal with their own waste rather than shipping it to Asia on a barge. HP is just ahead of the game.
If everyone saw software vendors' design and coding, the vendors might stop shipping us such lousy programs.
An interesting idea, but:
Software vendors need to be on time, on budget. Software contracts are often sold to the lowest bidder. With cramped schedules and tight budgets, some design shortcuts, kludges, and hacks are bound to make it into the final product. Good software costs a lot more money, and takes more time.
Not everyone is a software engineer, and could tell you just by browsing the source code how well a program was designed. In fact, I think it would take an experienced software engineer, (and a lot of analysis effort) to figure this out. (Unless it's quite obvious -- admittedly, sometimes, it's quite obvious.)
That said, I agree that it would be great if more vendors shipped the source with your product. However, people just want software that works. They don't want to have to hire someone to fix the bugs in the software they bought that was supposed to 'just work' in the first place. Where it would be more useful to have the source is if you've got a system that has been around for a very long time, and it needs to be extended in some way -- especially if the original people who designed the system are not around any more. Anyway, I just wanted to point out the big 'might' in your statement.
They did the exact same thing for webcams on Windows. I have one sitting on my shelf that works in the Windows 9x, but not the NT/2000/XP series. Assholes. Luckily, I was able to find a driver under Linux -- and someone also hacked up a working win2k driver. I'm still mad, though.
Slashdot Mirror
Let's see...
firefox.exe
Mem Usage: 120,288 K
VM Size: 118,600 K
I love the browser, but I'm not impressed.
... $7999, you too can get your hands on this!
Erm, raise your hand if you have $7999 burning in your pocket.
It will be nice when the price drops. =) Certainly looks cool, that's for sure.
For hundreds of years, the people of the United States of America have voted for our president in such a way that the views and interests of the majority of the people do not necessarily align with the views and interests of our president. The very idea that the people must choose one, and only one, person that represents their views and interests is fundamentally flawed.
In a democracy, voters should not be deterred from voting for a third party simply because by doing so they are "voting for the opposition". People should be free to vote their conscience instead of going with the most popular party line that is closest to their views, or choosing the lesser of two evils.
Using technology available today, a voting system could be developed that would allow candidates to be ranked in order of preference, so that the peoples' most preferred candidate always wins. What is the Green party's stance on reform like this, and what would it take to push such reform through the top levels of our government?
They could also leverage their LightScribe technology for making CD labels. Buy an album from the iTMS, get the label for free?
Rebates suck.
And of course they always ask for the orignal documents so they can conveniently "lose" it if they've run out of money for giving out rebates. Jerks. I've been burned by rebates too many times, even when I properly submit everything.
... that this gets posted this to Slashdot, which will probably cause everyone who reads this article will to go over to the Linux Today site to check out the offensive banners for themselves, thus generating ad impressions and revenue for Linux Today. =)
In order to fight the alleged monopoly on Chinese clothing in America, the United States government is establishing quotas for foreign clothing. While the details are still unclear, the government may require that up to 70% of clothing worn by North Americans be produced domestically. Regulations like this are, of course, expected to come under fierce criticism from the WTO.
I think this guy's work is awesome. But I can't help but be reminded of a quote from a movie I saw recently, Pirates of the Carribean:
Jack Sparrow: [looking at all the swords] Who makes all these?
Will Turner: I do! And I practice with them three hours a day!
Jack Sparrow: You need to find yourself a girl mate. Or perhaps the reason you practice three hours a day is that you already found one, and are otherwise incapable of wooing said strumpet. You're not a eunuch are you?
(thanks imdb)
Heh. My first thought was "very clever!", but then I realized that we are the ones that are going to die if the supermarkets do the right thing and try to contact one of us... hmmm...
... that is, if, and only if they do everything at their disposal to contant you immediately about the situation. I, for one, welcome our new supermarket-management overlords. *ducks*
Seriously, though, I think I'll take a very Kant-like view on this (if I remember my Philosophy class correctly). I'll argue that since the supermarkets have this information at their disposal, it is their duty to notify their customers. The article quotes Katherine Albrecht, the founder of an organization called the the "Consumers Against Supermarket Privacy Invasion and Numbering", as saying "Sure it would be useful to have someone contact me if I bought something tainted, but at what cost? A total food-supply surveillance network?" The fatal flaw in this argument is that the supermarkets already have what she calls the "A total food-supply surveillance network". That's why you get the discounts; they are paying you for this data. Now, since they have this data, they can save your life by calling you on the phone and telling you not to eat a piece of meat you bought at their store. I believe that the ethical use of this customer data demands that at the very least they give you a call on the phone, and/or do whatever it takes to inform you that the product they sold you may put your life in danger.
Not that it would have helped me. I put a false name and number on the form when I signed up for my supermarket discount card(s). (Not that they care, as this still probably generates useful demographic data of some kind for them.) Good thing I don't eat meat.
The benefit is that sourceforge gets the money and not PayPal. Besides, some people dislike paypal and would never purchase anything through them anyway. Also, you potentially have more visibility for a "donate" feature on the sourceforge pages themselves, rather than just on the custom page for your project.
Well hidden in a menu? Wow, what Mac user would think to look there? With that kind of complexity, they might as well just have users type in a code word. Clearly Mac users are astoundingly more intelligent than anyone else on the planet.
Maybe they could put in a patch that would make Linux display a friendly blue screen when it crashes instead of a kernel panic message. Embrace and extend!
I think the DEC had the potential to be a really great product. Seems like it got lost somewhere in the merger... plus, when it was released a couple of years ago it was priced way out of the market. Damn shame.
Well, there is a huge list of OpenView products. Not all of them run on every platform. I think some are more *nix-centric, and some are more windows-centric.
Tux will be very unhappy to learn that his Chinese counterpart will be some kind of horrific goat/penguin hybrid. Oh, the humanity!
"Internet service providers" and "centralized" are mutually exclusive...
On the other hand, if it was integrated into something like a PDA, it might work better. My Palm Vx (grayscale) has a pretty damn long battery life; however I rarely use it for as long as I use a PC. Also, the fact that I turn it off when I'm done (or it shuts itself off) surely prolongs the battery life. And my Palm isn't transmitting any signals to my PC, either...
... if they want my support. I'd love to build a machine that uses less power and doesn't need a CPU fan; it'd be good for a router or a file server for my humble home office. I would use a Transmeta CPU in a heartbeat if it were available and relatively inexpensive. VIA actually offers some similar products; I used a CPU from their C3 line that advertises that it doesn't need a fan, but it isn't nearly as nifty as Transmeta's stuff. Anyway, why doesn't Transmeta start talks with competing motherboard manufacturers?
First, consider that Rational's source control products. As bloated as they can be, they run on Win32 and many flavors of *NIX.
Next, Borland does a lot of Java work. Under Microsoft's rule, this would surely slow to a trickle or be converted to the .NET platform.
Obviously, industry support for non-Microsoft platforms would be greatly reduced if these buyouts go through. Not only that, but many of the good people at Rational and Borland would be soon out of work, as Microsoft would suddenly find them irrelevant to their strategy.
Yes, I think this would be very bad for cross platform development, and the software industry in general.
So it's no wonder that HP wants this to pass. Someone realized that they can actually *profit* from this. My guess is the swift change in HP's position was a result of some people being uninformed after the Compaq merger.
IMHO, more companies need to learn how to deal with their own waste rather than shipping it to Asia on a barge. HP is just ahead of the game.
An interesting idea, but:
That said, I agree that it would be great if more vendors shipped the source with your product. However, people just want software that works. They don't want to have to hire someone to fix the bugs in the software they bought that was supposed to 'just work' in the first place. Where it would be more useful to have the source is if you've got a system that has been around for a very long time, and it needs to be extended in some way -- especially if the original people who designed the system are not around any more. Anyway, I just wanted to point out the big 'might' in your statement.
Also, footing the bill becomes less of an issue since it's cheaper to let 'em rot in jail than to pursue the death penalty. (IIRC)
Classy. I wonder if the computer animators got crafty and snuck in teapots? I think my eyes will hurt by the end of the movie if I try to find out...
They did the exact same thing for webcams on Windows. I have one sitting on my shelf that works in the Windows 9x, but not the NT/2000/XP series. Assholes. Luckily, I was able to find a driver under Linux -- and someone also hacked up a working win2k driver. I'm still mad, though.