I tried the fictionwise link looking for the free downloads, but there weren't any. What a worthless link. I registered even, and tried adding the book to my shopping cart. Bastards.
Ah, see, you're talking 'value'. I'm talking 'price'.:) I don't doubt that it's a good value, what they've got at fossil. I just don't want to pay more than $20 for a timepiece. Whether the price has enough value or not is irrelevant. Now, in a few months, I might change my tune. Just not right now.
Here's the place on yahoo stores I was talking about. I was hoping to find a pocket watch that was radio-controlled. No such luck.:( Looks like all they have right now are wall clocks and wristwatches. I used to carry a wristwatch in my pocket, so I could do that, but it really takes up a lot of space, unless you take off the wristband, of course.:) Gotta wonder why people prefer to strap something on their wrist that makes them look and feel like a dork rather than carry something in their pocket. I suppose it's an acquired preference I never managed to acquire, although I used to wear a wristwatch.
The last time I checked, the cable drives a small rotating magnet which is in close proximity to a metal disk that is attached to the needle's axle. The rotating magnet thus induces currents in the disk which in turn eventually results in a torque being applied to the axle. A spring resists the free rotation of the needle giving a reading which is proportional to the speed.
Ah, thank you. I haven't actually pulled apart a speedo head, I've just replaced cables and rebuilt transmissions, so I'm familiar with the speedo setup up to the back of the speedo head. You can usually see part of the series of gears that starts out from the cable hookup in the speedo head just by looking at the back of it, but then it works its way out of view.
There may be a lag of a second but that'll surely be just for filtering purposes so that the displayed reading is steady. In a sense, the same thing MUST happen with the analog speedo. There needs to be some damping in that too or else it'd oscillate up and down - in fact you can see it occur with old speedos which, presumably, are worn out.
It's definitely more pronounced on a digital speedo, but I'll happily concede some lag in the analog system. Now that you mention it, if you hit the brakes really hard, I notice that the speedo needle does lag a little behind the actual speed of the car.
Personally, I'd like to see a speedometer that doesn't spend on wheel size and gear ratios and so forth, something that will always tell me exactly how fast I'm going. Some of the aftermarket ones are programmable where you can put in the gear ratio of your differential and the size of your wheels and it'll give you an accurate speed, but I'd really like to see something that just works. No idea how to build it, though.;)
Ouch! Those start at $85. I consider that too much for a timepiece.:) I found some more on a yahoo store where the entry-level pocketwatch (attached to a keyring, no less) was $35. I was hoping for something under $20, though.
I suppose I'll just keep using the clock on my Clie. At least that one's close to being accurate, since KPilot sets it when I sync, and my computer is an NTP client.:) It's still not quite as convenient as just pulling out my keys and checking the clock, though.
Do you think your average Windows virus writer is brainy enough to think about doing such a thing to cause trouble for the Linux community?
Well, the average Windows virus writer is brainy enough to code poorly, at least. He's also going to be of a criminal mindset looking to pass blame onto someone else. He probably reads tech news himself, and is probably well aware of the SCO vs. Linux stuff. Therefore, it wouldn't take many brain cells at all for him to decide to code a payload into his virus that will direct blame onto the Linux community, and it would be useful if he himself isn't actually part of the community.
Anybody who thinks that time isn't important isn't a very good cook.
IN that case I invite you to dinner. Live in the Seattle area? I haven't timed the food I cook for years, I just know when it's done and when it's not done.:)
Sure I want a pocket webserver videocamera mp3 player box... I just dont want them in my mobile phone
I'm torn on this. I really like my Clie, but I'd like to have a phone too. I'd also like to scrap my wallet in favor of having a billfold/credit card holder combined with my Clie. But I don't have all the pocket space for all this crap, and I'm *not* going to clip this shit on my belt. (Hell, I don't always wear a belt anyway) If I could put all the portable stuff I want in my Clie, I'd be happy with that.
And then I'd probably still be looking for a pocket watch.;)
As was said before, the only issue is having to sign multiple times.
The article cited speed and cost of operations as well. Now, I realize that you can get the speed of dot matrix from thermal transfer and direct thermal, but you don't get anywhere near the low cost. I mean, you can go down to goodwill and get a friggin' dot matrix printer, buy a ribbon for $2, and get paper from your dad. No way is laser anywhere near that cheap to operate.:)
(Yeah, yeah, big companies, or any companies for that matter, don't acquire their computer hardware and supplies in the fashion I stated
I bet you don't like people who call them "legos" either.
You know who I don't understand. All those people that say "lego my egg-o". Why the fuck would I want to do that? Got worse when they started using southerners in their commercials, and they said "lego my a-go". That made less sense.
Gee, Apple Enthusiasts: You sure know how to paricipate as adults in a discussion!
This isn't anything new.:) But then, what do you expect from an OS that gives you the Tonka toy experience (officially stolen by Microsoft)? Man, oh man, do I remember the old Mac commercials showing very small children learning all kinds of stuff. Macs have always been targetted for children and purchased by children.
Man, I haven't attacked Macs in awhile. Some pent-up energy, perhaps?;)
Here, here. I recall a similar question posed to me in High School, and I showed the guy my watch after he said he couldn't read the clock on the wall. I wore a Swatch with the sweeping hand display and no numbers.:) I loved that watch.
When I started seeing these atomic clocks in the stores a year ago or so, I bought every one that I could see. Problem was, they're all digital. Finally, a few days back, I saw one for sale with a sweeping hand display. Much better.:)
The problem, I think, is that people here in America are after the "quick fix". They don't want to have to read a sweeping hand display because they think they'll have to multiply something by five, and it's confusing to them (I don't know why:) ). So they get the digital watch. Then you watch them move their lips while they try to figure out how much time before they get off work, or their date picks them up, or whatever, while you glance at your watch and just know.
Same with the can opener, the automatic transmission, and hundreds of other stupid devices. Personally, I've had to open non-twist top beer bottles with no bottle opener in sight. And I've done it without breaking the glass.:) (I suppose "had" is a subjective thing)
Anyways, your post is spot-on, and I can probably write reams of copy on that same subject and how it irritates me.
I remember being able to tell the time of the day before being able to read numbers.
NOt too long ago...
Ok, I used to be a mechanic. That means I worked outside all the time. I didn't wear a watch, and the only clock in the shop I was working in was inside. So we never knew what time it was, right? Didn't take long, but I started telling time by the sun, literally.
So this guy comes in and is wondering if his digital watch is showing the correct time. So he asks me what time it is. I look at the sun (not directly, of course), and tell him. He says he doesn't believe me. So he picks up his cell phone and calls the time number. Then he says "Sorry, Dave, you were only off by one minute."
After that, everyone who worked in that shop learned to tell time by the sun.:) Then we all started showing up late to work...
Heh, I don't wear a watch, so I don't have to deal with women asking me for the time so they can see how expensive my watch is.
Instead, they look at my wife, look at their own tits, and wonder why I'm running around with her when I could be...
Oh hell. Still no explanation on why women make passes at me more now that I'm married than they did when I was single, except that I quit wearing a watch shortly before I met my wife...
Wrong. The digital speedo is better for telling how fast you are going. The analog one is better for telling how fast your are accellerating. Digital gives good instant information, analog provides rate of change. Hence a combination of the two give the best of both worlds.
Bullshit.
An analog speedometer works like this:
On the tailshaft in your transmission there is a gear. There is a meshing gear in the speedo sending unit. This gear is turned by the tailshaft on the transmission, obviously, and causes the cable to turn. The cable, inside your speedo gauge, is headed by another gear, which goes through a series of gears that results in placing the needle on the gauge (and advancing the odometer). Since the very first gear in this chain of parts is on the tailshaft, it doesn't specifically say how fast the car is going. However, it is designed to account for the gear ratio in the differential and the specified size of tires. So the gauge tells you in real-time exactly how fast you are going. Further, by giving you a needle with an angle to look at rather than actual digits, it allows you to learn this information at a glance. Most analog speedometers are designed to put a certain target speed limit at the top of the gauge, usually 55 on 80s era cars, so that when you're highway driving all you have to do is look if the needle points up. So it's also a very efficient way to read your actual speed, in real time.
A digital speedometer works similarly, depending on the car. I'll only discuss newer systems here, since the basic concepts are still used somehow or other. Instead of a gear on the tailshaft of your transmission, now you have a magnetic ring. This ring goes by a magnetic pick-up coil that receives a series of pulses. These pulses are sent to a computer (not usually the car's ECU) that is usually embedded into the speedometer itself. This computer measures the number of pulses that are received in a certain amount of time and then displays the results. So the speed that you see on the gauge is always the speed the car was traveling when it was last measured. It's not real-time at all, and is usually 1-2 seconds off. So it's not "instant information" as you put it, it's actually old information by the time you see it. This, of course, is the reason I don't like digital speedometers.:)
Where the hell did you get it? I've been looking for one for years, and in the meantime I've satisfied myself with just not knowing what time it is. I don't wear wrist watches...;)
How on earth can you describe an analog watch as more intuitive than a digital watch? More elegant, certainly. But intuitive? A digital watch shows the numbers. If you can read them, you can tell the time. An analog watch uses one set of numbers (or positions, as many don't even have actual numerals on the face) for two different things. You have to learn what each hand means, and what each position means in the context of each hand. Once you learn it, it becomes straightforward and easy, but it's definitely the opposite of intuitive.
Because an analog watch is something you can just glance at and know what time it is. A digital watch you have to read and think about. But an analog watch you can sic your pattern-matching system on directly. A digital watch you have to use your reading skills on, which is an abstraction layer that just slows it down.
Obviously, I prefer the display of an analog clock.:) I have one hanging in my kitchen with "Atomic Clock" in big words on it, so it's obviously not truly analog.
I'm going to get flamed for this for sure, but if you think this had nothing to do with Linux users, you're an idiot.
This is called flamebait, the paragraph you wrote right there.
Fact is, MyDoom's main function is to serve as a backdoor/spam relay. If you think Linux zealots would write such a program, then you're a fucking idiot. It's people like you that ruin the whole thing for...
Yeah, right. Face the facts kids, it had disgruntled Linux geek written all over it.
Hmm, let's see. Primary function of worm: serve as backdoor for the installation of key sniffers and spam relays
Now think. I realize this is going to be hard for you. Do you really think that Linux geeks would write such an invasive program? This is the same community that screams at Microsoft all day long (and all night, since the sun never sets on the Linux empire) for violating privacy every time they release a hotfix.
I used yours as a model and wrote my own additions, corrections, and so forth around yours because I liked yours very much.:)
Here's mine:
I'm disappointed by the errors included in the article by Stephen Evans on the MyDoom virus. His article is nothing more than tabloid reporting conspiracy theories. If it had been offered as an 'opinion' or 'editorial', then maybe it would have been more appropriate. But his statements regarding the intents of the virus creators are treated through most of the article as statements of fact. This is improper, as Stephen could not possibly know the intent. It is also a false conclusion, due to the fact that there are many websites discussing the MyDoom virus and the reason it is dangerous is because it opens a backdoor on the user's computer through which spam is being relayed.
There are also some blatant factual errors. For example, Stephen writes "[i]t has attacked a company based in Utah called SCO, bringing down its website with a barrage of emails...." This statement is false, and only a very introductory knowledge of internet would protocols is needed to disprove and discredit this statement. The only way a website could be taken down by a barrage of emails is if the email host and the web host are the same machine. This is a known Bad Practice, and people who install networks in that fashion frequently get fired.
Finally, the article closes with the statement "[i]t is about malice not money." This is also widely regarded, among the computer security community, to be untrue. Considering the actions and statements of SCO executives, it seems more likely to me that SCO is behaving in a malicious fashion. Ever since they filed suit against IBM claiming ownership of thousands of people's work, SCO has gone off an a tirade every time someone has attacked them in any form, including the many open letters written to SCO by members and leaders of the community. This childlike behavior should not be rewarded by a "reputable" news source such as the BBC.
The article failed to mention that the virus creates a backdoor on infected machines that can be used to relay spam. The virus appears to have been written by for the purpose of helping spammers. The DDoS (distributed denial of service) attack on SCO appears to have been added later, almost as an afterthought, as a way of distracting the news media from the more insidious threat. It is unfortunate that it seems to have succeeded in that goal.
Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions about my statements. I recommend especially reading the comments of the "incidents" list at www.securityfocus.com to see what experts are saying about the relative importance of the "spam relay" part of the worm to the "attack SCO" part.
It concerns me that an article with such wildly drawn conclusions is to be treated as containing integrity, accuracy, and above all reporting the facts. Mr. Evens could have easily written an article with just as much "fact" as this one stating that SCO developed the MyDoom worm in-house, since they have been trying to try their court case in the press ever since they filed it. With slightly more fact than is included in this article, Mr. Evens could have claimed Microsoft wrote the MyDoom worm in order to support their ally against Linux, SCO. But all of these crazy theories dissolve when you examine the true purpose of the worm, which is to relay spam. This SCO business with the worm is obviously just a smokescreen, and it certainly wouldn't have taken *that many* brain cells to determine this minor detail, and this minor detail completely undermines the entire article.
+4 Funny, okay the joke started to get old then. So Slashdot breaks the story, and people get modded up for joking about wanting the virus on their machine. Now, I know what you're thinking "Oh they just meant that like as irony cos nobody'd really do that." Valid argument, except that's not the case I'm making. Folks, the case I'm making is about impressions. Frankly, the impression from that whole thread is "Yay, SCO will be attacked." Unfounded claim my ass. The active Slashdot Community did all but beg for SCO to point the finger at them.
And that's only half of it. The other half of the comments all said something to the effect of "Whoever wrote that, quit it!" or in some other way pointed the finger right back at open source programmers. Fact is, any real open source programmer would have released the source code as GPL (or some other open license) and provided the source code to users.:) Jokes aside, the thing that irritates me the most whenever something like this happens (check out other attacks on SCOs website, for example) is all the guilt-ridden freaks here on slashdot that come up and say "We shouldn't have done that!". Well, now the BBC is saying the same thing. What makes them any different than the whole lot of you that say it?
I mean, really. Sure, the BBC is supposed to be this big trusted media giant and all, but when you can read the article on the BBC and then go to slashdot's coverage of the same virus and see the BBCs "wild accusations" firmly confirmed by the community itself, what conclusion are you going to reach?
I got modded as troll for attacking Bruce Perens in that same thread for reaching the conclusion that the media would make this conclusion, and he was right. But judging from the look of the posts in that specific article and many other posts in many other articles, I can't say the BBC made an "unfounded" accusation. Quite the contrary, the community took responsibility for it, and whether or not the MyDoom virus came from open source programmers, the community should not have taken responsibility for it. We should be out trying to hang the fucker that did it along with SCO. Because now SCO and we have a common enemy, whoever that person really is.
Dude, don't forget to email me from my website before this discussion gets archived. Otherwise, I won't know how else to get in touch with you.
Who is your wife, anyway? My gf would never go through this.:-)
You should ask your girlfriend sometime what "Unconditional Love" means.:) My wife and I have been through quite a bit together. See, I have a distinctly geek background, but when I finished High School I went off determined to live not like a geek at all. So I didn't go to college, and all kinds of crap. Had a lot of fun, actually. My wife has no geek in her (except periodically when I screw her brains out).:)
You go to my website and send me an email on that form. That way we don't have to post our email addresses here on slashdot where everybody and their dog-troll can spam us.
First you have to stipulate that my wife is an "average" user. She is, but you don't actually know her.
I will provide her with a computer and a copy of Windows 2000 (It's the only windows OS I have that will install from a single CD. If she did win98, she'd have to deal with installing win95 first and then running the upgrade. I don't have XP or NT at all. I *do* have Me, if you'd prefer to use that for the comparison). I'll also provide her with a copy of Mandrake Linux 9.2 (the most recent). It's not exactly 'fair' because it's the latest and greatest Mandrake against an older Windows. If you have a copy of XP you'd like to send, we can do that. We don't have to activate it, just get past the initial installation.
I won't help her at all. Her only source of information (besides the phone) is going to be another computer internet-connected. She'll write down every problem she encounters and take notes about how she solved the problem, assuming that she encounters any problems with either of them.
The computer I have for her to do this is fairly old. It's a K6-2, 450mhz, with a Sissy motherboard. The Sissy has onboard sound and video, and is already known to work with Mandrake Linux and Windows 2000. I'll make sure there's a network card in there that win2k has a driver for, and we'll set some requirements.
Are you interested in this? When we're done, I'll publish an article on my website about it and get my website slashdotted (if you can mirror it for the slashdot post, I'd be much obliged).
Slashdot Mirror
Thank you! ACs aren't completely worthless after all. :)
Here it is for the rest of you lot.
I tried the fictionwise link looking for the free downloads, but there weren't any. What a worthless link. I registered even, and tried adding the book to my shopping cart. Bastards.
Or did I miss something? :)
Ah, see, you're talking 'value'. I'm talking 'price'. :) I don't doubt that it's a good value, what they've got at fossil. I just don't want to pay more than $20 for a timepiece. Whether the price has enough value or not is irrelevant. Now, in a few months, I might change my tune. Just not right now.
Here's the place on yahoo stores I was talking about. I was hoping to find a pocket watch that was radio-controlled. No such luck. :( Looks like all they have right now are wall clocks and wristwatches. I used to carry a wristwatch in my pocket, so I could do that, but it really takes up a lot of space, unless you take off the wristband, of course. :) Gotta wonder why people prefer to strap something on their wrist that makes them look and feel like a dork rather than carry something in their pocket. I suppose it's an acquired preference I never managed to acquire, although I used to wear a wristwatch.
The last time I checked, the cable drives a small rotating magnet which is in close proximity to a metal disk that is attached to the needle's axle. The rotating magnet thus induces currents in the disk which in turn eventually results in a torque being applied to the axle. A spring resists the free rotation of the needle giving a reading which is proportional to the speed.
Ah, thank you. I haven't actually pulled apart a speedo head, I've just replaced cables and rebuilt transmissions, so I'm familiar with the speedo setup up to the back of the speedo head. You can usually see part of the series of gears that starts out from the cable hookup in the speedo head just by looking at the back of it, but then it works its way out of view.
There may be a lag of a second but that'll surely be just for filtering purposes so that the displayed reading is steady. In a sense, the same thing MUST happen with the analog speedo. There needs to be some damping in that too or else it'd oscillate up and down - in fact you can see it occur with old speedos which, presumably, are worn out.
It's definitely more pronounced on a digital speedo, but I'll happily concede some lag in the analog system. Now that you mention it, if you hit the brakes really hard, I notice that the speedo needle does lag a little behind the actual speed of the car.
Personally, I'd like to see a speedometer that doesn't spend on wheel size and gear ratios and so forth, something that will always tell me exactly how fast I'm going. Some of the aftermarket ones are programmable where you can put in the gear ratio of your differential and the size of your wheels and it'll give you an accurate speed, but I'd really like to see something that just works. No idea how to build it, though. ;)
Ouch! Those start at $85. I consider that too much for a timepiece. :) I found some more on a yahoo store where the entry-level pocketwatch (attached to a keyring, no less) was $35. I was hoping for something under $20, though.
I suppose I'll just keep using the clock on my Clie. At least that one's close to being accurate, since KPilot sets it when I sync, and my computer is an NTP client. :) It's still not quite as convenient as just pulling out my keys and checking the clock, though.
Do you think your average Windows virus writer is brainy enough to think about doing such a thing to cause trouble for the Linux community?
Well, the average Windows virus writer is brainy enough to code poorly, at least. He's also going to be of a criminal mindset looking to pass blame onto someone else. He probably reads tech news himself, and is probably well aware of the SCO vs. Linux stuff. Therefore, it wouldn't take many brain cells at all for him to decide to code a payload into his virus that will direct blame onto the Linux community, and it would be useful if he himself isn't actually part of the community.
By the way, I like your music ;)
Thank you!
Anybody who thinks that time isn't important isn't a very good cook.
IN that case I invite you to dinner. Live in the Seattle area? I haven't timed the food I cook for years, I just know when it's done and when it's not done. :)
Sure I want a pocket webserver videocamera mp3 player box... I just dont want them in my mobile phone
I'm torn on this. I really like my Clie, but I'd like to have a phone too. I'd also like to scrap my wallet in favor of having a billfold/credit card holder combined with my Clie. But I don't have all the pocket space for all this crap, and I'm *not* going to clip this shit on my belt. (Hell, I don't always wear a belt anyway) If I could put all the portable stuff I want in my Clie, I'd be happy with that.
And then I'd probably still be looking for a pocket watch. ;)
As was said before, the only issue is having to sign multiple times.
The article cited speed and cost of operations as well. Now, I realize that you can get the speed of dot matrix from thermal transfer and direct thermal, but you don't get anywhere near the low cost. I mean, you can go down to goodwill and get a friggin' dot matrix printer, buy a ribbon for $2, and get paper from your dad. No way is laser anywhere near that cheap to operate. :)
(Yeah, yeah, big companies, or any companies for that matter, don't acquire their computer hardware and supplies in the fashion I stated
What tube gear do ya'll have?
Boss GT-3.
Only women need tubes.
No, that makes you a Homo Sexual.
I bet you don't like people who call them "legos" either.
You know who I don't understand. All those people that say "lego my egg-o". Why the fuck would I want to do that? Got worse when they started using southerners in their commercials, and they said "lego my a-go". That made less sense.
Death and dreck, do I hate advertising slogans.
Gee, Apple Enthusiasts: You sure know how to paricipate as adults in a discussion!
This isn't anything new. :) But then, what do you expect from an OS that gives you the Tonka toy experience (officially stolen by Microsoft)? Man, oh man, do I remember the old Mac commercials showing very small children learning all kinds of stuff. Macs have always been targetted for children and purchased by children.
Man, I haven't attacked Macs in awhile. Some pent-up energy, perhaps? ;)
Here, here. I recall a similar question posed to me in High School, and I showed the guy my watch after he said he couldn't read the clock on the wall. I wore a Swatch with the sweeping hand display and no numbers. :) I loved that watch.
When I started seeing these atomic clocks in the stores a year ago or so, I bought every one that I could see. Problem was, they're all digital. Finally, a few days back, I saw one for sale with a sweeping hand display. Much better. :)
The problem, I think, is that people here in America are after the "quick fix". They don't want to have to read a sweeping hand display because they think they'll have to multiply something by five, and it's confusing to them (I don't know why :) ). So they get the digital watch. Then you watch them move their lips while they try to figure out how much time before they get off work, or their date picks them up, or whatever, while you glance at your watch and just know.
Same with the can opener, the automatic transmission, and hundreds of other stupid devices. Personally, I've had to open non-twist top beer bottles with no bottle opener in sight. And I've done it without breaking the glass. :) (I suppose "had" is a subjective thing)
Anyways, your post is spot-on, and I can probably write reams of copy on that same subject and how it irritates me.
I remember being able to tell the time of the day before being able to read numbers.
NOt too long ago...
Ok, I used to be a mechanic. That means I worked outside all the time. I didn't wear a watch, and the only clock in the shop I was working in was inside. So we never knew what time it was, right? Didn't take long, but I started telling time by the sun, literally.
So this guy comes in and is wondering if his digital watch is showing the correct time. So he asks me what time it is. I look at the sun (not directly, of course), and tell him. He says he doesn't believe me. So he picks up his cell phone and calls the time number. Then he says "Sorry, Dave, you were only off by one minute."
After that, everyone who worked in that shop learned to tell time by the sun. :) Then we all started showing up late to work...
Heh, I don't wear a watch, so I don't have to deal with women asking me for the time so they can see how expensive my watch is.
Instead, they look at my wife, look at their own tits, and wonder why I'm running around with her when I could be...
Oh hell. Still no explanation on why women make passes at me more now that I'm married than they did when I was single, except that I quit wearing a watch shortly before I met my wife...
Wrong. The digital speedo is better for telling how fast you are going. The analog one is better for telling how fast your are accellerating. Digital gives good instant information, analog provides rate of change. Hence a combination of the two give the best of both worlds.
Bullshit.
An analog speedometer works like this:
On the tailshaft in your transmission there is a gear. There is a meshing gear in the speedo sending unit. This gear is turned by the tailshaft on the transmission, obviously, and causes the cable to turn. The cable, inside your speedo gauge, is headed by another gear, which goes through a series of gears that results in placing the needle on the gauge (and advancing the odometer). Since the very first gear in this chain of parts is on the tailshaft, it doesn't specifically say how fast the car is going. However, it is designed to account for the gear ratio in the differential and the specified size of tires. So the gauge tells you in real-time exactly how fast you are going. Further, by giving you a needle with an angle to look at rather than actual digits, it allows you to learn this information at a glance. Most analog speedometers are designed to put a certain target speed limit at the top of the gauge, usually 55 on 80s era cars, so that when you're highway driving all you have to do is look if the needle points up. So it's also a very efficient way to read your actual speed, in real time.
A digital speedometer works similarly, depending on the car. I'll only discuss newer systems here, since the basic concepts are still used somehow or other. Instead of a gear on the tailshaft of your transmission, now you have a magnetic ring. This ring goes by a magnetic pick-up coil that receives a series of pulses. These pulses are sent to a computer (not usually the car's ECU) that is usually embedded into the speedometer itself. This computer measures the number of pulses that are received in a certain amount of time and then displays the results. So the speed that you see on the gauge is always the speed the car was traveling when it was last measured. It's not real-time at all, and is usually 1-2 seconds off. So it's not "instant information" as you put it, it's actually old information by the time you see it. This, of course, is the reason I don't like digital speedometers. :)
i wear a friggin analog pocket watch
Where the hell did you get it? I've been looking for one for years, and in the meantime I've satisfied myself with just not knowing what time it is. I don't wear wrist watches... ;)
How on earth can you describe an analog watch as more intuitive than a digital watch? More elegant, certainly. But intuitive? A digital watch shows the numbers. If you can read them, you can tell the time. An analog watch uses one set of numbers (or positions, as many don't even have actual numerals on the face) for two different things. You have to learn what each hand means, and what each position means in the context of each hand. Once you learn it, it becomes straightforward and easy, but it's definitely the opposite of intuitive.
Because an analog watch is something you can just glance at and know what time it is. A digital watch you have to read and think about. But an analog watch you can sic your pattern-matching system on directly. A digital watch you have to use your reading skills on, which is an abstraction layer that just slows it down.
Obviously, I prefer the display of an analog clock. :) I have one hanging in my kitchen with "Atomic Clock" in big words on it, so it's obviously not truly analog.
I'm going to get flamed for this for sure, but if you think this had nothing to do with Linux users, you're an idiot.
This is called flamebait, the paragraph you wrote right there.
Fact is, MyDoom's main function is to serve as a backdoor/spam relay. If you think Linux zealots would write such a program, then you're a fucking idiot. It's people like you that ruin the whole thing for...
Ok, I'm bored with flaming you. Carry on. :)
Yeah, right. Face the facts kids, it had disgruntled Linux geek written all over it.
Hmm, let's see. Primary function of worm: serve as backdoor for the installation of key sniffers and spam relays
Now think. I realize this is going to be hard for you. Do you really think that Linux geeks would write such an invasive program? This is the same community that screams at Microsoft all day long (and all night, since the sun never sets on the Linux empire) for violating privacy every time they release a hotfix.
I used yours as a model and wrote my own additions, corrections, and so forth around yours because I liked yours very much. :)
Here's mine:
Thanks!
+4 Funny, okay the joke started to get old then. So Slashdot breaks the story, and people get modded up for joking about wanting the virus on their machine. Now, I know what you're thinking "Oh they just meant that like as irony cos nobody'd really do that." Valid argument, except that's not the case I'm making. Folks, the case I'm making is about impressions. Frankly, the impression from that whole thread is "Yay, SCO will be attacked." Unfounded claim my ass. The active Slashdot Community did all but beg for SCO to point the finger at them.
And that's only half of it. The other half of the comments all said something to the effect of "Whoever wrote that, quit it!" or in some other way pointed the finger right back at open source programmers. Fact is, any real open source programmer would have released the source code as GPL (or some other open license) and provided the source code to users. :) Jokes aside, the thing that irritates me the most whenever something like this happens (check out other attacks on SCOs website, for example) is all the guilt-ridden freaks here on slashdot that come up and say "We shouldn't have done that!". Well, now the BBC is saying the same thing. What makes them any different than the whole lot of you that say it?
I mean, really. Sure, the BBC is supposed to be this big trusted media giant and all, but when you can read the article on the BBC and then go to slashdot's coverage of the same virus and see the BBCs "wild accusations" firmly confirmed by the community itself, what conclusion are you going to reach?
I got modded as troll for attacking Bruce Perens in that same thread for reaching the conclusion that the media would make this conclusion, and he was right. But judging from the look of the posts in that specific article and many other posts in many other articles, I can't say the BBC made an "unfounded" accusation. Quite the contrary, the community took responsibility for it, and whether or not the MyDoom virus came from open source programmers, the community should not have taken responsibility for it. We should be out trying to hang the fucker that did it along with SCO. Because now SCO and we have a common enemy, whoever that person really is.
Dude, don't forget to email me from my website before this discussion gets archived. Otherwise, I won't know how else to get in touch with you.
Who is your wife, anyway? My gf would never go through this. :-)
You should ask your girlfriend sometime what "Unconditional Love" means. :) My wife and I have been through quite a bit together. See, I have a distinctly geek background, but when I finished High School I went off determined to live not like a geek at all. So I didn't go to college, and all kinds of crap. Had a lot of fun, actually. My wife has no geek in her (except periodically when I screw her brains out). :)
I don't completely disagree with you.
Instead, why don't we do this:
You go to my website and send me an email on that form. That way we don't have to post our email addresses here on slashdot where everybody and their dog-troll can spam us.
First you have to stipulate that my wife is an "average" user. She is, but you don't actually know her.
I will provide her with a computer and a copy of Windows 2000 (It's the only windows OS I have that will install from a single CD. If she did win98, she'd have to deal with installing win95 first and then running the upgrade. I don't have XP or NT at all. I *do* have Me, if you'd prefer to use that for the comparison). I'll also provide her with a copy of Mandrake Linux 9.2 (the most recent). It's not exactly 'fair' because it's the latest and greatest Mandrake against an older Windows. If you have a copy of XP you'd like to send, we can do that. We don't have to activate it, just get past the initial installation.
I won't help her at all. Her only source of information (besides the phone) is going to be another computer internet-connected. She'll write down every problem she encounters and take notes about how she solved the problem, assuming that she encounters any problems with either of them.
The computer I have for her to do this is fairly old. It's a K6-2, 450mhz, with a Sissy motherboard. The Sissy has onboard sound and video, and is already known to work with Mandrake Linux and Windows 2000. I'll make sure there's a network card in there that win2k has a driver for, and we'll set some requirements.
Are you interested in this? When we're done, I'll publish an article on my website about it and get my website slashdotted (if you can mirror it for the slashdot post, I'd be much obliged).