The problem with Lego is that most of the sets lack imagination and are very overpriced. In many of the sets you end up paying 20+ cents PER BLOCK.
I finally tried some Mega Blocks sets this year and they are really great sets! They seem to have a lot of imagination over at Mega Blocks. There is a quality control problem at Mega Blocks however. Sometimes the blocks don't stick together very well whereas Lego always sticks together well. Meg Blocks they are MUCH less expensive and Lego doesn't seem to have had a new idea in a long time. The sets they have out today look just like the sets that were out 20 years ago when I was a kid.
The only Lego sets lately that have caught my eye are the Star Wars ones and if they're eliminating them I think they really need new leadership at the top to come out with some more innovative designs.
Hopefully so that they have less bandwidth bills to pay and therefore need less money.
Letter to our readers and contributors
By Jimmy Wales, Wikimedia Foundation, Director
December 28, 2003
As you have all seen the past few days, we have been having technical difficulties. The essential problem is that we do not currently have enough hardware to cope with routine failures of any kind. When any one of our machines goes down, we experience cascading problems due in part to the excess load on the entire system.
The solution to this problem is to purchase now sufficient hardware to give us enough excess capacity so that we can be reliable. I estimate that $20,000 in hardware would get us to a point where we have reserves to handle the failure of any one machine. Additionally, we would be well-poised to continue our track record of astounding growth.
We currently have total funds of about $4,200. Additionally, I am donating (via Bomis) 1 new webserver. I am putting together, in consultation with our technical team, an order for new hardware totalling $20,000. For details of what we are purchasing, or if you have expertise and would like to help guide us, join the wikitech-l mailing list. [Note that when Wikipedia is down, the mailing list subscription is affected, too.]
I will post daily or twice-daily updates on this web page as well as keeping the mailing lists informed at the same time.
Wonder what technology area they're going to monopolize next? Tivo looks prime for the picking
They already tried to do that. It was called Ultimate TV and didn't work out very well for them. (Although they did have John Madden running around for them pretending he could operate the thing).
They're eventually going to try to come up with a new XBox/Ultimate TV - UtimateBox. Which ironically is what all the XBox hackers are trying to do and is what Microsoft is trying to stop all of the XBox hackers from doing.
but his rankings confuse me. For instance, he includes 'hobby' computers such as the Altair, but excludes the Apple I and his ranking of the Compaq portable PC at number one ahead of the Altair, Apple I and II, Apple Lisa and Macintosh. Interestingly, the author also skips other significant platforms entirely, such as the Amiga and Atari computers as well as skipping over the much more significant Tandy products, the TRS-80
So you're saying this article sucks and is essentially useless. What a great reason to post this for discussion! Please suggest some more!
It does come with a toilet break. It's the "Arwen Aragorn romance dream sequence" right in the middle of the movie. Why the hell else would Peter Jackson put that crap in there?
So in other words, OLM is not "Holding your domain hostage" by listing themselves as the registrant, you just don't know what you are doing. And you are a webhost. Great. I feel very sorry for your "Customers".
If OLM doesn't allow you to point the domain to another nameserver, all you have to do is transfer the domain from OLM to another registrar. The transfer will go through without any problems because your friend is the contact. This will all happen without OLM's approval.
Once you've transfered to another registrar, then just point the site to the "web host you run".
The French also successfully defended the Maginot Line for quite some time as it was being attacked FROM THE REAR (ie from the French side) from the Germans who swung back around to clear it out.
Also, most of the US's Cold War defense theories in Europe were similar to the Maginot Line. If I recall correctly, we had something like 90% of all of our armor within 2 miles of the East German border.
If you're doing all of this for 1 user (and that user isn't you) have you considered sticking with pop and just leaving the messages on the server? If you leave the messages on the server than they will always be there for you to download via pop to a new computer.
This would not work nearly as well for you if you want to have all of your sent mail in a central location but if your main concern is to "have access to the mail that is already downloaded." then that is an option.
I think that from the user's point of view, IMAP is much more intuitive.
From a user's perspective both pop and imap should behave the exact(*) same way as long as they're accessing their email from one computer.
* Essentially, a user should not have any idea if they're using pop or imap. The only difference from a users perspective should be the speed of accessing the email. Pop should be faster after the initial download as the email is now residing on that person's computer. Imap should be a little slower (unless it is cached locally) but that shouldn't be that noticable over a LAN.
I agree with your shrinkage analogy, but I disagree with this.
I'd also charge more for the software, as price creates a perception of value: 25 - 35 dollars should be sufficient. At 15 dollars you are putting yourself in the realm of cheaply made, junky Visual Basic apps.
I haven't ever paid for a shareware product. Then I tried the demo for AdSubtract (cookie manager / ad blocker). It's demo is fully functional for 5 sites and frankly I only needed to cover 3 sites. Then I got an email from them saying, "Hope you like the demo blah blah blah, we're having a special and you can get the full version for $15." I said, "You know I can give the $15."
I actually felt pretty good about helping a small company out. Then I tried a program called Abander Tag Control (which by the way is an awesome mp3 tagger). I figured since I felt so warm and fuzzy after paying for AdSubtract I'd register Tag Control as well. When I found out it was $70 (or some such nonsense) I said, "F them, I can find a crack for this in 5 minutes."
I actually just checked and I see the price is now $22. I'll probably register it tonight.
This is not a good idea if your phone isn't currently recieving telemarketing calls.
Q: If I register my number on the National Do Not Call Registry, will it stop all telemarketing calls?
A: No. Placing your number on the National Do Not Call Registry will stop most, but not all, telemarketing calls. You may still receive calls from political organizations, charities, telephone surveyors or companies with which you have an existing business relationship.
THIS LIST IS GOING TO BE MADE AVAILABLE TO CHARITIES AND SURVEYORS for them to use.
I swear that Alexandre Julliard, project leader and master developer of Wine was on TechTV earlier this year and there was an exchange that went something like this:
Laport: Well if Wine is not an emulator, then what is it. (laughs)
Julliard: Well, an emulator!
This is a paraphrase from memory but I found it very funny that they spent 2 minutes describing Wine and how it's not an emulator and then Julliard says it basically is an emulator.
This computer is running the Linux operating system. It is easily removed and can be replaced by Windows 98 or higher by formatting the hard drive and loading Windows. We will perform this service for you for a fee.
Well I for one am tired of paying this "Linux Tax"! If I want to buy a computer and put Windows on it why should I have to pay for an illegally bundled copy of Thiz Linux as well. I'm going to start a "Thiz Linux Refund Day" campaign. We're going to protest right out in front of their headquarters "Unit 502-505, 5/F, Tower 3, Enterprise Square, 9 Sheung Yuet Road, Kowloon Bay, Hong Kong" until we recieve a full refund! Who's with me?!?
Hence your statement about "International Law" = bunk.
Please re-read what I wrote. My statement about International Law is about the fact that you CANNOT CLAIM NEW TERRITORY via extension of your International Waters.
"Sealand was founded as a sovereign Principality in 1967 in international waters, six miles off the eastern shores of Britain."
WHEN SEALAND WAS FOUNDED the UK's Territorial Waters Extended 3 Miles. Their Territorial Waters were later extended to 12 miles. You cannot however claim any territory via expansion of your Territorial Waters. The Unites States CANNOT extend their Territorial Waters to 300 miles and then claim that since Cuba is now within it's Territorial Waters that the U.S. now owns it. (Comments about the current administration aside.)
I know a pre-trial finding of no jurisdiction has no precedent value and therefore means absolutely nothing except that one judge didn't take one case
It means he didn't have jurisdiction in the case. It's like if a German brought suit against another German in an English court. The English court would have no jurisdiction in the case and wouldn't rule on it either way.
"The independence of Sealand was upheld in a 1968 British court decision where the judge held that Roughs Tower stood in international waters and did not fall under the legal jurisdiction of the United Kingdom."
Actually the Brittish briefly tried to retake Sealand but thought better of it when Sealand shot back.
By late 1968, the British navy had become aware of the new situation off the coast of England. They were interested in terminating the state of affairs brought about by an error committed by the most senior military authorities without causing too much uproar.
Units of the navy entered the territorial waters claimed by Roy of Sealand. As he was aware of his sovereignty, Roy of Sealand threatened the navy by undertaking defensive activity. Shots were fired from Sealand in warning.
Since Roy of Sealand was still an English citizen, he was thus accused of extensive crimes in Britain and was summoned to an English court. The result of this lawsuit in Chelmsford, Essex was a spectacular success for Sealand's claim to sovereignty. In its judgment of 25 November 1968, the court declared that it was not competent in Roy of Sealand's case as it could not exert any jurisdiction outside of British national territory. This is the first de facto recognition of the Principality of Sealand. English law had ruled that Sealand was not part of the United Kingdom, nor did any other nation claim it, hence Prince Roy's declaration of a new Sovereign State was de facto upheld.
The UK's legal system has consistently treated Sealand as a sovereign nation.
The platform is inside UK teritorial waters - period. The UK government does not recognize 'Prince Roy' and in this case it is the opinion of the executive and not the judiciary that is relevant.
Actually when Sealand was "founded", UK Territorial waters only extended 3 miles. You cannot claim territory by extending your Territorial Waters under International Law. Since the UK courts have ruled that they have no jurisdiction in Sealand it would seem that Sealand was and is a country.
The UK could not extend it's Territorial Waters 100 miles and then claim the beaches of Normandy.
Who is going to look at that car and say, "Wow, I NEED to have one of those."? What a joke. They're going to sell 15 of those and say, "See we told you the muscle car was dead when we took away your Cameros and Firebirds and we were right. Nobody bought the new GTO."
Very true...my Lexmark z23 cost me about $35...which is also the price for a new black ink cartridge.
Then next time you run out of ink, just buy a new Lexmark z23. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. I bet they haven't figured that into their "Sell printers near/below cost and then jack up prices on proprietary ink cartridges" formula.
Slashdot Mirror
I finally tried some Mega Blocks sets this year and they are really great sets! They seem to have a lot of imagination over at Mega Blocks. There is a quality control problem at Mega Blocks however. Sometimes the blocks don't stick together very well whereas Lego always sticks together well. Meg Blocks they are MUCH less expensive and Lego doesn't seem to have had a new idea in a long time. The sets they have out today look just like the sets that were out 20 years ago when I was a kid.
The only Lego sets lately that have caught my eye are the Star Wars ones and if they're eliminating them I think they really need new leadership at the top to come out with some more innovative designs.
They're eventually going to try to come up with a new XBox/Ultimate TV - UtimateBox. Which ironically is what all the XBox hackers are trying to do and is what Microsoft is trying to stop all of the XBox hackers from doing.
2."They are smoking crack."
It does come with a toilet break. It's the "Arwen Aragorn romance dream sequence" right in the middle of the movie. Why the hell else would Peter Jackson put that crap in there?
Mod parent Insightful!
If OLM doesn't allow you to point the domain to another nameserver, all you have to do is transfer the domain from OLM to another registrar. The transfer will go through without any problems because your friend is the contact. This will all happen without OLM's approval.
Once you've transfered to another registrar, then just point the site to the "web host you run".
Also, most of the US's Cold War defense theories in Europe were similar to the Maginot Line. If I recall correctly, we had something like 90% of all of our armor within 2 miles of the East German border.
This would not work nearly as well for you if you want to have all of your sent mail in a central location but if your main concern is to "have access to the mail that is already downloaded." then that is an option.
From a user's perspective both pop and imap should behave the exact(*) same way as long as they're accessing their email from one computer.* Essentially, a user should not have any idea if they're using pop or imap. The only difference from a users perspective should be the speed of accessing the email. Pop should be faster after the initial download as the email is now residing on that person's computer. Imap should be a little slower (unless it is cached locally) but that shouldn't be that noticable over a LAN.
I actually felt pretty good about helping a small company out. Then I tried a program called Abander Tag Control (which by the way is an awesome mp3 tagger). I figured since I felt so warm and fuzzy after paying for AdSubtract I'd register Tag Control as well. When I found out it was $70 (or some such nonsense) I said, "F them, I can find a crack for this in 5 minutes."
I actually just checked and I see the price is now $22. I'll probably register it tonight.
Don't let them online. They're only going to download porn and trade mp3's and get you sued anyways.
Laport: Well if Wine is not an emulator, then what is it. (laughs) Julliard: Well, an emulator! This is a paraphrase from memory but I found it very funny that they spent 2 minutes describing Wine and how it's not an emulator and then Julliard says it basically is an emulator.
Why not call it Xanythingbutzouvert.
These are not the Scout Walkers having sex that you're looking for.
It means he didn't have jurisdiction in the case. It's like if a German brought suit against another German in an English court. The English court would have no jurisdiction in the case and wouldn't rule on it either way.
The UK could not extend it's Territorial Waters 100 miles and then claim the beaches of Normandy.
Who is going to look at that car and say, "Wow, I NEED to have one of those."? What a joke. They're going to sell 15 of those and say, "See we told you the muscle car was dead when we took away your Cameros and Firebirds and we were right. Nobody bought the new GTO."