The same can be said of Big Pharma's drug push. Again, look at VIOXX. Nowhere in the marketing did it say there's a chance you can get a heart attack.
I do not support false advertising. However, as long as there is a prominently displayed message saying, "The FDA / USDA has not verified these claims" or something to that effect, then it's fine. Again, my complaint is that we should have the freedom to choose. Hey, maybe those herbs are just all placebos, but if something thinks it helps them then more power to him. It is not the government's role to select our choices (or in this case limit our choice to a single one: Big Pharma). And if you don't like what you see on TV, then change the channel.
Couple hundred years ago, draining blood was considered a cure for just about anything. Lets bring it back. Next time you have a headache, slit your wrists.
God, you "all natural" medicine freaks are about as bad as those Scientologist.
The point I'm making is that we Americans should have the freedom to choose what kind of health care we want. Not have Big Nanny Government (whose pockets are lined by Big Pharma) decide what is best for us.
Besides, it's already been shown that Big Pharma's drugs cause heart attacks: VIOXX was pulled, then later added back (with a stronger warning) after Merck complained it was losing to much $$$. The Chinese, and others, have been using herbs since recorded history. Their track record is substantially better than today's drugs. Look at all of the commerials: Warning! Do not take if you suffer from high blood pressure, constipation, irritation, etc., etc., etc. May cause: nausea, drowsiness, upset stomach, etc., etc. Severe side-effects may include: liver damage, kidney damage, stroke, and in some cases death. What are the warnings on herbs and vitamins? None! If you take too much the most you'll get is a tummyache. Evolution did not happen overnight. Man (and animals) evolved with the environment which included herbs. These genetically-engineered drugs completely take evolution out of the picture. It's no surprise there are all of these negative side-effects. We're f'ing with Mother Nature.
I absolutely stay away from the Big Corporate chocolate: Hershey's, Cadbery's, etc. It's all shit. High Fructose Corn Syrup and other crap in there. Ever had fine, European chocolate? The taste and texture is so much better.
There is a healthy and damn tasteful alternative to "corporate chocolate": Scharffen Berger Bittersweet Fine Artisan Dark Chocolate. I buy the 70% and 100% Cacao bars. You can really taste the cacao beans in the 70% but it's not completely bitter. The 100% takes a bit getting used to but once you've enjoyed these high quality chocolates, the "corporate chocolate" tastes like the shit that it is. I buy these bars at Whole Foods Market.
It figures. Since this is/. an article on the FDA trying to regulate something healthy doesn't show up, but chocolate does. (This is a joke for the humor-impaired.)
Seriously, the FDA is Attempting to Regulate Supplements, Herbs and Juices as "Drugs". This is very important. The Big Pharmaceutical corporations have been trying to get natural medicine banned for years. Instead of taking herbs, vitamins, minerals, and other natural and very inexpensive remedies, Big Pharma wants to drug everyone. Medical costs are already skyrocketing here in the US - we should have the freedom to choose whatever kind of treatment we want, not be forced into one choice: corporate drugs.
Chinese medicine (herbs, acupuncture, etc.) has been around for thousands of years. People have been curing themselves long before Big Pharma pushed all of their drugs on us. It absolutely upsets me that the FDA, another alphabet-soup agency, doesn't work for "we the people" but instead for the very top elite executives of Big Pharma.
Re:Will anyone gain anything from this? Not Linux
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The End is Nigh for XP
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There's already a proven path. Windows 3.1 -> NT 4.0 -> W2K -> XP -> Vista. Corporations and vendors already know from experience how much $$$ and time it will take. With Linux, it's a big ??? and no big, publicly traded corporation is going to risk their shareholders' value and wrath to experiment with moving from XP to Linux.
I'm speaking from experience - over 10 years in I.T. This is how real world works. More examples:
Part of the regulations in the financial sector is to secure all data, including laptops. That means Whole Disk Encryption. To manage an entire corporate structure requires an enterprise solution. Utimaco and PGP provide such a solution - for Windows XP & soon Vista. It's certified, tested, and secure. In fact, the US gov has an RFP out to various vendors for WDE - all for Windows solutions.
All the big financial trading software runs on Windows: Schwab's CyberTrader, TradeStation, Townsend Analytics, E-Signal, etc., etc., etc. Traders are not going to risk their $$$ trying to use Windows emulators under Linux "just because they like Linux." No, they like $$$, are practical, and use the best tool for the job. Further, all of the helpdesks at the firms know that 99.9% of their customers use Microsoft. Even if they got off of Windows, they would still need to support their customer base. That is, the mass of people who buy Dells which have Winfows pre-installed.
Ubuntu has been out for how long? 5 years? A CEO of an S&P 500, S&P MidCap, S&P SmallCap, etc. corporation is not going to risk his publicly traded corporation's entire infrastructure (the "heart" of the communications between all co-workers) to a 5 year old company (is Ubuntu even a corporation?) that also has many, many competitors. There is only 1 vendor for Windows: Microsoft. There are a ton of vendors for Linux.
Further, do you know the nightmare it will take to switch over thousands of employees? Employees aren't just sitting around - they are working a minimum 40 hours a week. There would be productivity loss, lots of retraining, lots of hardware expenses (have to duplicate workstations so users can migrate from their Windows PC to their Linux PC), etc. No VP or Product Manager or shareholders will endure that kind of disruption. And for what? To move from an established DOW 30 corporation to a 5 year old one-of-many Linux distros?
As you mature in your career job, you realize that there is so much more to life than your PC. You have a girlfriend, wife, baby, young children, overtime, etc. that now take up a significant (and nearly all) of your time. Even if you were a geek growing up (I was), there is no time to dork around with Linux trying to get this new piece of hardware/software to work with this kernel and this distro. My friends only have a couple of hours on a Friday to spend for themselves. The rest of the time is with the kids (helping w/ homework, etc.) or the wife (going out to dinner, married life). With Windows, it truly is Plug-And-Play. Every piece of hardware that I've bought from Bluetooth devices to HDTV video cards to a bunch of different USB devices (GPS, storage, etc.) just works. I plug it in, install the Windows drivers that came on the CD, and I'm done. At the bare minimum for Linux, I'd have to hope there was a Linux driver, find it, install it, etc. That takes precious time which a lot of people don't have.
I think those that modded me down as Troll/Flamebait are high school / college kids or young adults barely into the workforce. Sorry, but this is the real world. You have to think like a CEO. You have to think like those above you if you want to learn from them and advance up the corporate ladder. Starting out at a job and telling everyone that you like Linux so much and want your company to move to Linux will only show how green and inexperienced you are. Once you move up to department manager you can start seeing the bigger picture. Once you move up to regional manager and oversee at least a few hundred employees you will see the big picture.
The only force that can bring down Microsoft from desktop domination is a combination of Microsoft screwing up horribly AND a truly viable alternate solution being available to take advantage. The only one I can think of is Apple - another big, established publicly traded corporation.
Re:Will anyone gain anything from this? Not Linux
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The End is Nigh for XP
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· Score: -1
Everytime there's a negative article about Windows, there's always the comment that Linux will pick up those dissatisfied customers and will soon have a significant desktop marketshare. Honestly, it's not going to happen. For all of the quirks and problems that Vista has (I bought a Dell laptop with Vista but installed XP instead), it is still much, much simpler than Linux for your average user: mom & pop, teenage / college kids, young professionals.
Eventually, as it always happens, there will be bug releases and new drivers for Windows Vista. Upgrading to them is as easily as doing "Windows Update." Linux (and BSD) distros will never be this easily patched due to the very nature of being open source. I only have to go to 1 web site to update my PC's - Windows Update - and it's incredibly simple - just click on Update and voila, it's done and everything works.
And the vast majority of forced Windows users are corporations. They have Windows Server 2003, Outlook, NetMeeting, etc. all integrated into their back office systems. They are not going to switch out their entire infrastructure to Linux due to some OEM issues. They have contracts with MS and will continue to receive support for XP, including on new PCs for new-hires. Additionally, the Midcap and Largecap corporations are not going to switch away from a DOW 30 stock's software (Microsoft) to a tiny / free software (Red Hat). All the bigwigs who sign deals knows that you can't go wrong with a Microsoft PC environment. No CEO or VP will risk his salary / retirement benefits / etc. by changing from MS to Linux.
And no, I'm not flaming anyone, I'm just saying how I see it as I work in I.T. as an MS sysadmin.:-)
I use Firefox's NoScript and AdBlockPlus. Between them both, I've blocked out all of the Yahoo!'s and Google's ad-tracking capabilities (and nearly all ads in general). Without cookies to track from one site to the next, I don't see how this will work unless every site does URL redirection. Also, don't log into Yahoo! or Google, then surf. They can record all of your search queries and tracking via your logged in cookie.
If you want to see the "Wow" factor, download the Apple Quicktime Trailers in 1080p and 5.1. I can really tell the difference between my compressed clear-QAM 1080i recordings and these uncompressed 1080p trailers.
Oh, that was too funny! Watch the other ones first then "Security."
Re:What I'd like to see (and plan to implement soo
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TrueCrypt 4.3 Released
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Try using the largest Rare Earth Magnet you can buy. Just be careful to keep it away from every piece of electronic equipment you don't want to damage.
The biggest drawback, and a showstopper for me, is the lack of Whole Disk Encryption. Sure, you can boot Windows XP in a 5GB partition and encryption all of your other partitions using TrueCrypt, however the Windows paging file, Documents & Settings (and all of the hidden files in there), etc. are left unencrypted. I use PGP Whole Disk Encryption for Windows XP and it works wonderfully on my laptop.
I would use TrueCrypt in conjuction with PGP WDE, however, on a secondary harddrive containing, um, "artistic images & videos". There are times you (or a friend / family member) want to use your PC, but not have every drive decrypted.
I think the reason the TrueCrypt developers won't/don't do WDE is due to stupid users. Their support E-mails would be flooded with people who forgot their decryption passphrase wondering how to access their now permanently locked data. Um, hello! That's the whole point of secure encryption - there is no back door!
FOX airs 24 at 9 PM. Aren't children in bed anyways? Or at least doing their homework? When I was growing up, I had school, then after-school sports, then dinner, then I could finally start my homework around 6:30 or 7:00 PM for a couple of hours. That took me to 9 PM and I went to bed. There was no TV time for me during the week. (And we didn't have computers back then, either.) If there was a show I really wanted to watch like the Star Wars Ewok Adventures, my parents would tape it for me, and if I had good grades that week, I could watch it on the weekend on our only TV in the house.
The PTC is nothing more than LAZY parents. And what are they so worried about anyways? If they raise their kids the right way, they will turn out fine. Watching Jack Bauer 'bust a cap in a terrorist's azz' isn't going to screw up the kids. I bet these same parents also allow their children to have TVs, computers, video games, etc. in their bedrooms. When my parents finally got me Nintendo, I could only play it in our family room and only for a couple of hours at most each time. My parents took an active role in my life until I left for college - no "helicopter parents" once I left.
Frack! All we'll have left is Gilmore Girls. Ungh. Have you ever tried watching that POS show? The women in my family love it. It's nothing but yack, yack, yack, yack about the most boring things. What ever happened to turning off the damn TV or changing the fucking channel? I think George Carlin did a comedy routine on that topic.
The only sentient beings are us flesh & blood humans. There's a reason I, Robot is a science fiction novel. All a robot is is just a bunch of metal parts with a CPU just like my computer. No computer can "think" for themselves - we program the input and output. There is no such thing as a computer program "becoming sentient." I find this scary because we should be concerned with other humans not if a bunch of nuts & bolts coupled to a CPU is a sentient being. What's next? Unionization for the auto-plant robots that "work" all-day, all-night? Wrongful-death lawsuits against police bomb-squads which use robots to detonate explosives? And how would the elderly South Koreans "abuse" their robot "caretakers?" Yell at it? Pound on it? Spill liquid on its control? This is downright stupid. We've all done that to our PCs. We humans are the only sentient beings. A computer program will never be a sentient being.
And just what is a "robot"? My new Core Quad PC is more powerful than an existing robot (I'm thinking of that Japanese robot that can walk). Is my PC a robot? What if I attached some metal "arms", "legs", and "head" to my PC (i.e. a really cool case mod like Bender)? Does it somehow become a "robot?" What about our cars? Our jet-planes? Our tanks & fighter air-craft? Some would argue no as their program does not make them sentient. Well what happens if I load the "sentient" program into my PC, car, tank, or fighter air-craft? Does it become "sentient"? If I delete the program, does it "die?"
I read TFA, but nowhere did it mention anything about encryption. I am assuming that since I use WPA2, I don't need to worry about anyone sniffing my wireless traffic. I think it is irresponsible for this article to not include anything about encryption - spread fear about wireless usage, but don't provide a solution.
There was a car ad a year ago (maybe it was for the Superbowl 2006?) featuring kids driving flying cars on buildings, across jumps, etc. all in slow-motion. I think the idea was that the cars were so quiet and comfortable that even the kids were enjoying the ride. Anyways, a group of parents complain that it sets a bad example showing underage kids, god forbid, driving and it was pulled.
I would just like to say a big FUCK YOU! to every moron who gets offended.
Remember one of the early South Park episodes where everyone in the city gets offended by the Christmas play that everything about the holidays gets removed and it ends up being a very dull and boring show? Everyone in the audience then complains and about it and then they get a lashing from Chef telling them how it was them that wanted it all removed? Dammit, have we as a society gotten so lost & midguided that we are now living in the real-life version of fictional cartoons that are supposed to be unrealistic? Whatever happened to common sense?
In sunny areas, as well as rural areas, people are setting up solar panels and/or wind turbines to live "off of the grid." Who gives a shit how much energy they use by having incandescent light bulbs vs. CFL?
And then we have the law of unintended consequences - if a family saves $XXX on their energy bill using CFLs, they will just allocate that energy for more heating/cooling purposes, decorative purposes (outdoor lighting), etc. There will never be a net effect of less energy use.
That's the first thing I thought of when I read the headline. I thought it was about someone modifying their Suzuki to fly at those speeds (200+ mph) and then finally getting the landing correct. I guess Hayabusa is a common name in Japan like Mike is here in the US.
I've never played a MMORPG and hadn't bought an RPG since the Ultima Underworld series except for ES4:O. I enjoyed Ultima IV, V, VI, etc. and Underworld, maybe because I was a kid and the fantasy stuff was fun. I don't seem to recall, however, having to "grind" or "level-up". I do remember that if you killed someone who had better equipment, you could take it and get more powerful. However, I tried the RPGs again with ES4:O and it was fun for several quests, but then got repetitive - go into this dungeon and find this, go into that dungeon and find that, etc. Even Grand Theft Auto gets boring after awhile, especially after trying to increase my skill levels.
When I get home from work, I have very little actual "free time." I get really annoyed if all I can do in my "free time" is kill the same minor creature over and over again (or in the case of GTA:SA, swim/dive stationary into a wall to up my skills so I can complete a mission where I need to hold my breath) and never progress on with the game. Talk about sheer boredom. That's why I used trainers to automatically up my skills - I don't want to waste my precious free-time.
Now, I only play FPS and RTS games with a little TBS (Civ series). For FPS, I can immediately get into the game and make a difference, do something cool to advance the storyline, etc. I don't need to go do all these little tasks to build up skill points. That's why games like Far Cry & HL2 were so fun - there was an interesting storyline and you could "power-up" by getting better weapons. For RTS / TBS, it's about planning. The best one I played were the built-in campaigns in Age of Mythology.
"Terrorists" are so far off of my radar map I could give a shit. What I fear the most is my own government. Whenever I hear a politician or bureaucrat say, "In this post-9/11 world, we have to sacrifice some of our freedoms for security," I cringe. Those in charge of our nation would love nothing more than to have total and complete control & oversight into every single part of our lives: monitor our E-mails, web activity, public activity, where we walk/drive to, what we eat, drink, and/or smoke, and even what goes on inside our own homes.
What I fear secondarily is gangs. Anyone who lives in a major city knows how big a problem gang activity is with the drive-by shootings, drug deals, rapes, murders, etc. People there live in fear of getting hit by a bullet or getting murdered if they report them to the police. To me, those are the real "terrorists" who affect our lives every day. But does our government do anything about it? Oh no, our corrupt politicians and city "leaders" are too busy going after Lite-Brites.
Does anyone here honestly think things will get better in the US - i.e. smaller government, restoration of our Bill of Rights - or that we headed straight to hell? With every year that passes, I see bigger and bigger and bigger government with more and more and more laws, rules, and regulations.
I finished HL2 w/ no cheats. I finished FarCry using cheats for the last couple of levels - I really wanted to play to the end. I'm not even halfway through Doom 3 and quit. I enjoyed the "spooky/scary" factor, but it got a bit dull. FarCry should have been in the top 20.
Hip-hop = black. Look at the DVD covers and read the lyrics of blacks: guns, gangs, drugs, murder, etc. The police have no idea what to expect and look for the worst-case scenario: whatever they are rapping about they will actually do in real life.
I guarantee you that if it was classical or elevator music being mixed, it would only be couple of deputies to arrest the, presumedly, white guy.
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The same can be said of Big Pharma's drug push. Again, look at VIOXX. Nowhere in the marketing did it say there's a chance you can get a heart attack.
I do not support false advertising. However, as long as there is a prominently displayed message saying, "The FDA / USDA has not verified these claims" or something to that effect, then it's fine. Again, my complaint is that we should have the freedom to choose. Hey, maybe those herbs are just all placebos, but if something thinks it helps them then more power to him. It is not the government's role to select our choices (or in this case limit our choice to a single one: Big Pharma). And if you don't like what you see on TV, then change the channel.
Not according to their website's Our History page. "Copyright© 2006 Artisan Confections Company" I can't find a reference of Hershey.
Besides, it's already been shown that Big Pharma's drugs cause heart attacks: VIOXX was pulled, then later added back (with a stronger warning) after Merck complained it was losing to much $$$. The Chinese, and others, have been using herbs since recorded history. Their track record is substantially better than today's drugs. Look at all of the commerials: Warning! Do not take if you suffer from high blood pressure, constipation, irritation, etc., etc., etc. May cause: nausea, drowsiness, upset stomach, etc., etc. Severe side-effects may include: liver damage, kidney damage, stroke, and in some cases death. What are the warnings on herbs and vitamins? None! If you take too much the most you'll get is a tummyache. Evolution did not happen overnight. Man (and animals) evolved with the environment which included herbs. These genetically-engineered drugs completely take evolution out of the picture. It's no surprise there are all of these negative side-effects. We're f'ing with Mother Nature.
I absolutely stay away from the Big Corporate chocolate: Hershey's, Cadbery's, etc. It's all shit. High Fructose Corn Syrup and other crap in there. Ever had fine, European chocolate? The taste and texture is so much better.
There is a healthy and damn tasteful alternative to "corporate chocolate": Scharffen Berger Bittersweet Fine Artisan Dark Chocolate. I buy the 70% and 100% Cacao bars. You can really taste the cacao beans in the 70% but it's not completely bitter. The 100% takes a bit getting used to but once you've enjoyed these high quality chocolates, the "corporate chocolate" tastes like the shit that it is. I buy these bars at Whole Foods Market.
It figures. Since this is /. an article on the FDA trying to regulate something healthy doesn't show up, but chocolate does. (This is a joke for the humor-impaired.)
Seriously, the FDA is Attempting to Regulate Supplements, Herbs and Juices as "Drugs". This is very important. The Big Pharmaceutical corporations have been trying to get natural medicine banned for years. Instead of taking herbs, vitamins, minerals, and other natural and very inexpensive remedies, Big Pharma wants to drug everyone. Medical costs are already skyrocketing here in the US - we should have the freedom to choose whatever kind of treatment we want, not be forced into one choice: corporate drugs.
Chinese medicine (herbs, acupuncture, etc.) has been around for thousands of years. People have been curing themselves long before Big Pharma pushed all of their drugs on us. It absolutely upsets me that the FDA, another alphabet-soup agency, doesn't work for "we the people" but instead for the very top elite executives of Big Pharma.
There's already a proven path. Windows 3.1 -> NT 4.0 -> W2K -> XP -> Vista. Corporations and vendors already know from experience how much $$$ and time it will take. With Linux, it's a big ??? and no big, publicly traded corporation is going to risk their shareholders' value and wrath to experiment with moving from XP to Linux.
Lots of comments here so I'll make 1 big reply.
I'm speaking from experience - over 10 years in I.T. This is how real world works. More examples:
Part of the regulations in the financial sector is to secure all data, including laptops. That means Whole Disk Encryption. To manage an entire corporate structure requires an enterprise solution. Utimaco and PGP provide such a solution - for Windows XP & soon Vista. It's certified, tested, and secure. In fact, the US gov has an RFP out to various vendors for WDE - all for Windows solutions.
All the big financial trading software runs on Windows: Schwab's CyberTrader, TradeStation, Townsend Analytics, E-Signal, etc., etc., etc. Traders are not going to risk their $$$ trying to use Windows emulators under Linux "just because they like Linux." No, they like $$$, are practical, and use the best tool for the job. Further, all of the helpdesks at the firms know that 99.9% of their customers use Microsoft. Even if they got off of Windows, they would still need to support their customer base. That is, the mass of people who buy Dells which have Winfows pre-installed.
Ubuntu has been out for how long? 5 years? A CEO of an S&P 500, S&P MidCap, S&P SmallCap, etc. corporation is not going to risk his publicly traded corporation's entire infrastructure (the "heart" of the communications between all co-workers) to a 5 year old company (is Ubuntu even a corporation?) that also has many, many competitors. There is only 1 vendor for Windows: Microsoft. There are a ton of vendors for Linux.
Further, do you know the nightmare it will take to switch over thousands of employees? Employees aren't just sitting around - they are working a minimum 40 hours a week. There would be productivity loss, lots of retraining, lots of hardware expenses (have to duplicate workstations so users can migrate from their Windows PC to their Linux PC), etc. No VP or Product Manager or shareholders will endure that kind of disruption. And for what? To move from an established DOW 30 corporation to a 5 year old one-of-many Linux distros?
As you mature in your career job, you realize that there is so much more to life than your PC. You have a girlfriend, wife, baby, young children, overtime, etc. that now take up a significant (and nearly all) of your time. Even if you were a geek growing up (I was), there is no time to dork around with Linux trying to get this new piece of hardware/software to work with this kernel and this distro. My friends only have a couple of hours on a Friday to spend for themselves. The rest of the time is with the kids (helping w/ homework, etc.) or the wife (going out to dinner, married life). With Windows, it truly is Plug-And-Play. Every piece of hardware that I've bought from Bluetooth devices to HDTV video cards to a bunch of different USB devices (GPS, storage, etc.) just works. I plug it in, install the Windows drivers that came on the CD, and I'm done. At the bare minimum for Linux, I'd have to hope there was a Linux driver, find it, install it, etc. That takes precious time which a lot of people don't have.
I think those that modded me down as Troll/Flamebait are high school / college kids or young adults barely into the workforce. Sorry, but this is the real world. You have to think like a CEO. You have to think like those above you if you want to learn from them and advance up the corporate ladder. Starting out at a job and telling everyone that you like Linux so much and want your company to move to Linux will only show how green and inexperienced you are. Once you move up to department manager you can start seeing the bigger picture. Once you move up to regional manager and oversee at least a few hundred employees you will see the big picture.
The only force that can bring down Microsoft from desktop domination is a combination of Microsoft screwing up horribly AND a truly viable alternate solution being available to take advantage. The only one I can think of is Apple - another big, established publicly traded corporation.
Everytime there's a negative article about Windows, there's always the comment that Linux will pick up those dissatisfied customers and will soon have a significant desktop marketshare. Honestly, it's not going to happen. For all of the quirks and problems that Vista has (I bought a Dell laptop with Vista but installed XP instead), it is still much, much simpler than Linux for your average user: mom & pop, teenage / college kids, young professionals.
:-)
Eventually, as it always happens, there will be bug releases and new drivers for Windows Vista. Upgrading to them is as easily as doing "Windows Update." Linux (and BSD) distros will never be this easily patched due to the very nature of being open source. I only have to go to 1 web site to update my PC's - Windows Update - and it's incredibly simple - just click on Update and voila, it's done and everything works.
And the vast majority of forced Windows users are corporations. They have Windows Server 2003, Outlook, NetMeeting, etc. all integrated into their back office systems. They are not going to switch out their entire infrastructure to Linux due to some OEM issues. They have contracts with MS and will continue to receive support for XP, including on new PCs for new-hires. Additionally, the Midcap and Largecap corporations are not going to switch away from a DOW 30 stock's software (Microsoft) to a tiny / free software (Red Hat). All the bigwigs who sign deals knows that you can't go wrong with a Microsoft PC environment. No CEO or VP will risk his salary / retirement benefits / etc. by changing from MS to Linux.
And no, I'm not flaming anyone, I'm just saying how I see it as I work in I.T. as an MS sysadmin.
I use Firefox's NoScript and AdBlockPlus. Between them both, I've blocked out all of the Yahoo!'s and Google's ad-tracking capabilities (and nearly all ads in general). Without cookies to track from one site to the next, I don't see how this will work unless every site does URL redirection. Also, don't log into Yahoo! or Google, then surf. They can record all of your search queries and tracking via your logged in cookie.
Ask and ye shall receive: Wall-Sized 3D Displays: The Ultimate Gaming Room
If you want to see the "Wow" factor, download the Apple Quicktime Trailers in 1080p and 5.1. I can really tell the difference between my compressed clear-QAM 1080i recordings and these uncompressed 1080p trailers.
Oh, that was too funny! Watch the other ones first then "Security."
Try using the largest Rare Earth Magnet you can buy. Just be careful to keep it away from every piece of electronic equipment you don't want to damage.
The biggest drawback, and a showstopper for me, is the lack of Whole Disk Encryption. Sure, you can boot Windows XP in a 5GB partition and encryption all of your other partitions using TrueCrypt, however the Windows paging file, Documents & Settings (and all of the hidden files in there), etc. are left unencrypted. I use PGP Whole Disk Encryption for Windows XP and it works wonderfully on my laptop.
I would use TrueCrypt in conjuction with PGP WDE, however, on a secondary harddrive containing, um, "artistic images & videos". There are times you (or a friend / family member) want to use your PC, but not have every drive decrypted.
I think the reason the TrueCrypt developers won't/don't do WDE is due to stupid users. Their support E-mails would be flooded with people who forgot their decryption passphrase wondering how to access their now permanently locked data. Um, hello! That's the whole point of secure encryption - there is no back door!
FOX airs 24 at 9 PM. Aren't children in bed anyways? Or at least doing their homework? When I was growing up, I had school, then after-school sports, then dinner, then I could finally start my homework around 6:30 or 7:00 PM for a couple of hours. That took me to 9 PM and I went to bed. There was no TV time for me during the week. (And we didn't have computers back then, either.) If there was a show I really wanted to watch like the Star Wars Ewok Adventures, my parents would tape it for me, and if I had good grades that week, I could watch it on the weekend on our only TV in the house.
The PTC is nothing more than LAZY parents. And what are they so worried about anyways? If they raise their kids the right way, they will turn out fine. Watching Jack Bauer 'bust a cap in a terrorist's azz' isn't going to screw up the kids. I bet these same parents also allow their children to have TVs, computers, video games, etc. in their bedrooms. When my parents finally got me Nintendo, I could only play it in our family room and only for a couple of hours at most each time. My parents took an active role in my life until I left for college - no "helicopter parents" once I left.
Frack! All we'll have left is Gilmore Girls. Ungh. Have you ever tried watching that POS show? The women in my family love it. It's nothing but yack, yack, yack, yack about the most boring things. What ever happened to turning off the damn TV or changing the fucking channel? I think George Carlin did a comedy routine on that topic.
The only sentient beings are us flesh & blood humans. There's a reason I, Robot is a science fiction novel. All a robot is is just a bunch of metal parts with a CPU just like my computer. No computer can "think" for themselves - we program the input and output. There is no such thing as a computer program "becoming sentient." I find this scary because we should be concerned with other humans not if a bunch of nuts & bolts coupled to a CPU is a sentient being. What's next? Unionization for the auto-plant robots that "work" all-day, all-night? Wrongful-death lawsuits against police bomb-squads which use robots to detonate explosives? And how would the elderly South Koreans "abuse" their robot "caretakers?" Yell at it? Pound on it? Spill liquid on its control? This is downright stupid. We've all done that to our PCs. We humans are the only sentient beings. A computer program will never be a sentient being.
And just what is a "robot"? My new Core Quad PC is more powerful than an existing robot (I'm thinking of that Japanese robot that can walk). Is my PC a robot? What if I attached some metal "arms", "legs", and "head" to my PC (i.e. a really cool case mod like Bender)? Does it somehow become a "robot?" What about our cars? Our jet-planes? Our tanks & fighter air-craft? Some would argue no as their program does not make them sentient. Well what happens if I load the "sentient" program into my PC, car, tank, or fighter air-craft? Does it become "sentient"? If I delete the program, does it "die?"
I read TFA, but nowhere did it mention anything about encryption. I am assuming that since I use WPA2, I don't need to worry about anyone sniffing my wireless traffic. I think it is irresponsible for this article to not include anything about encryption - spread fear about wireless usage, but don't provide a solution.
There was a car ad a year ago (maybe it was for the Superbowl 2006?) featuring kids driving flying cars on buildings, across jumps, etc. all in slow-motion. I think the idea was that the cars were so quiet and comfortable that even the kids were enjoying the ride. Anyways, a group of parents complain that it sets a bad example showing underage kids, god forbid, driving and it was pulled.
I would just like to say a big FUCK YOU! to every moron who gets offended.
Remember one of the early South Park episodes where everyone in the city gets offended by the Christmas play that everything about the holidays gets removed and it ends up being a very dull and boring show? Everyone in the audience then complains and about it and then they get a lashing from Chef telling them how it was them that wanted it all removed? Dammit, have we as a society gotten so lost & midguided that we are now living in the real-life version of fictional cartoons that are supposed to be unrealistic? Whatever happened to common sense?
In sunny areas, as well as rural areas, people are setting up solar panels and/or wind turbines to live "off of the grid." Who gives a shit how much energy they use by having incandescent light bulbs vs. CFL?
And then we have the law of unintended consequences - if a family saves $XXX on their energy bill using CFLs, they will just allocate that energy for more heating/cooling purposes, decorative purposes (outdoor lighting), etc. There will never be a net effect of less energy use.
That's the first thing I thought of when I read the headline. I thought it was about someone modifying their Suzuki to fly at those speeds (200+ mph) and then finally getting the landing correct. I guess Hayabusa is a common name in Japan like Mike is here in the US.
I've never played a MMORPG and hadn't bought an RPG since the Ultima Underworld series except for ES4:O. I enjoyed Ultima IV, V, VI, etc. and Underworld, maybe because I was a kid and the fantasy stuff was fun. I don't seem to recall, however, having to "grind" or "level-up". I do remember that if you killed someone who had better equipment, you could take it and get more powerful. However, I tried the RPGs again with ES4:O and it was fun for several quests, but then got repetitive - go into this dungeon and find this, go into that dungeon and find that, etc. Even Grand Theft Auto gets boring after awhile, especially after trying to increase my skill levels.
When I get home from work, I have very little actual "free time." I get really annoyed if all I can do in my "free time" is kill the same minor creature over and over again (or in the case of GTA:SA, swim/dive stationary into a wall to up my skills so I can complete a mission where I need to hold my breath) and never progress on with the game. Talk about sheer boredom. That's why I used trainers to automatically up my skills - I don't want to waste my precious free-time.
Now, I only play FPS and RTS games with a little TBS (Civ series). For FPS, I can immediately get into the game and make a difference, do something cool to advance the storyline, etc. I don't need to go do all these little tasks to build up skill points. That's why games like Far Cry & HL2 were so fun - there was an interesting storyline and you could "power-up" by getting better weapons. For RTS / TBS, it's about planning. The best one I played were the built-in campaigns in Age of Mythology.
"Terrorists" are so far off of my radar map I could give a shit. What I fear the most is my own government. Whenever I hear a politician or bureaucrat say, "In this post-9/11 world, we have to sacrifice some of our freedoms for security," I cringe. Those in charge of our nation would love nothing more than to have total and complete control & oversight into every single part of our lives: monitor our E-mails, web activity, public activity, where we walk/drive to, what we eat, drink, and/or smoke, and even what goes on inside our own homes.
What I fear secondarily is gangs. Anyone who lives in a major city knows how big a problem gang activity is with the drive-by shootings, drug deals, rapes, murders, etc. People there live in fear of getting hit by a bullet or getting murdered if they report them to the police. To me, those are the real "terrorists" who affect our lives every day. But does our government do anything about it? Oh no, our corrupt politicians and city "leaders" are too busy going after Lite-Brites.
Does anyone here honestly think things will get better in the US - i.e. smaller government, restoration of our Bill of Rights - or that we headed straight to hell? With every year that passes, I see bigger and bigger and bigger government with more and more and more laws, rules, and regulations.
I finished HL2 w/ no cheats. I finished FarCry using cheats for the last couple of levels - I really wanted to play to the end. I'm not even halfway through Doom 3 and quit. I enjoyed the "spooky/scary" factor, but it got a bit dull. FarCry should have been in the top 20.
Hip-hop = black. Look at the DVD covers and read the lyrics of blacks: guns, gangs, drugs, murder, etc. The police have no idea what to expect and look for the worst-case scenario: whatever they are rapping about they will actually do in real life.
I guarantee you that if it was classical or elevator music being mixed, it would only be couple of deputies to arrest the, presumedly, white guy.
Notice how the "customer" is left out of all of this. I paid for each and every movie I play on my HTPC. I want Fair Use!