Well, since I have been using Linux for 10 years, and enjoying the benefits of the contributions of MANY other programmers, I find NOTHING wrong with GPL'ing any application that I write, and have done so.
My employer paid for, and renews, a Qt License. The support from Trolltech is excellent, second to none and better than most, especially when one considers what they get for what they pay to the likes of Oracle or Microsoft.
Exactly, and the best tool to do that with is QT4 from Trolltech.
Using their new, free, Qt-Creator GUI RAD IDE one can write source once and compile for either Linux or Windows. Qt-Creator is available for free on both platforms.
With careful use of compiler defines one can also, with the same code, write against Oracle and PostgreSQL in the same source and compile on either platform without changing a line of code.
Compile in the static mode and you won't have to worry about missing libraries.
I don't use or know about the Mac but, unlike Windows, I have yet to hear of a virus bringing down hundreds of thousands of Macs within a short period of time. (CodeRed, anyone?) Until that event appears in the newspapers, and there would be no way to keep it secret, how can one say the Mac is vulnerable? It's looks like a concession to the anti-virus houses, now that windows has pre-empted them with its own product.
How much of Apple's "new vulnerability", if it is indeed vulnerable, could be attributed to the fact that their OS is a proprietary, closed source application which lacks the "To a 1000 eyeballs all bugs are shallow" benefit?
Linux netbook market share is now around 30%. How long do you guys think it will be before a real (infects tens or hundreds of thousands) virus shows up. (Ya, I know. Some wanker is going to suggest that they have to sell a hundred thousand first. ha ha.)
Contrary to all the advice from child "experts" posting on this topic, most of whom probably never raised a child, go ahead and get a laptop for your child.
If you bought books for his age wouldn't you have to hold them, turn the pages for him, and read the contents to him and point out the pictures? Of course, How is a laptop any different? It's not. The big advantage you'll have with a laptop is that as he gets older and smarter you won't have a pile of discarded books to dispose of. You'll just browse to websites designed for kids the current age of yours.
A few years ago I bought a laptop as a college graduation gift for my daughter and put MEPIS on in dual boot mode so she could use OpenOffice and not break her piggy bank buying an Office license. I suspected that her 4 year old son would want to use it too, and Linux has lots of free games for youngsters. He learned to use the mouse playing Bubbles, and it taught him timing and coordination as well. Now, at 7, he is a master of the keyboard and mouse, and holds no fear of either the computer or the Internet. Mommy has no fear either because he can't visit undesirable websites.
My Son began reading children's astronomy books to my second grandson before he was a year old. Later, my son began showing him NASA launch videos on Youtube. Now, at 2 1/2, he can name the planets on sight, and list them in order from Venus outward. He can name the class of rocket on any launch video he sees, and he can identify the Moon, Venus and Jupiter in the evening sky. Because his dad introduced him to his laptop computer when he was barely a year old, Jordan is comfortable around it and the mouse. To him it is just another tool, just like his toy tools set.
A laptop is just a more powerful and useful book. Oh, before some of you self-appointed experts spout off some more nonsense from Dr. BenjaminSpok about them turning into couch potatoes or social introverts, both boys are very outgoing, athletic and love to romp and play with their moms and dads, their friends, and with grandpa!:-)
Get the child a computer. It will do BOTH you a ton of good and will be a good bonding experience. Your "thing" together!
And the next time a porn picture pops up on your computer while you are trying to navigate to some kids site, while your childing are waiting and watching, shall we indict you for aiding and abetting the abuse of a minor?
For Americans "Congress shall make no law... abridging the freedom of speech,"
abridge/brd/ [uh-brij] -verb (used with object), abridged, abridging. 1. to shorten by omissions while retaining the basic contents: to abridge a reference book. 2. to reduce or lessen in duration, scope, authority, etc.; diminish; curtail: to abridge a visit; to abridge one's freedom. 3. to deprive; cut off.
Defining someone else's utterance or writing as "hate" speech (politically incorrect) and then outlawing it is an example of abridgment, which destroys freedom of speech. That political expediency can be abused by some other group which may happen to gain power to make illegal those who, for example, publicly state that God does not exist, thus silencing YOUR freedom of speech.
A similar farce exists in China, where freedom of speech and religion are guaranteed under their constitution but not respected by those in power, so people are regularly fined and/or imprisoned for speaking against the government or for practicing a religion not recognized by the party in power.
And your statement that "Right and Wrong are completely subjective" sounds erudite but is also completely subjective. Both "Right" and "Wrong" exist. That is surely true or your statement is totally worthless because opinion does not matter. The fact that you posted your opinion is proof that you do not believe what you wrote: your act contradicts your belief.
For example, American Society has been highly tuned to call "child abuse" WRONG. and zealots for that issue have identified just about every form of Adult-child interaction as child abuse. It's leading us to a nation filled with narcissistic, self-centered, uncontrollable brats. No one should care if it is all subjective.
IF it is subjective would it be WRONG if one of those brats decided to kill you just for the fun of it, or do you think it is OK to, because morality is subjective and there is no such thing as RIGHT or WRONG?
Would it be WRONG if I decide that I don't need to get a job, or pay taxes, or obey laws, but just support myself by stealing from you, or selling drugs to your mother or your kids? What if I, and those who think like I do, gain a majority and pass laws making it legal to take from you and giving to me, so that a lot of what you make by your own efforts is now given to me, even though I make no effort at all? Or, what if there are not a majority who think like me but I get ACORN to register a lot of illegal aliens, dead people, toon characters and Martians to vote, some of them voting 70 times each, just to get into your pocket? Is that RIGHT or WRONG?
IF it is all subjective then stop whining when you get ripped off, or over taxed, or the potholes aren't filled, or your mother dies when a bridge collapsed because some crooked politician took a bribe from a contractor to allow substandard materials to be used in its construction, or they execute a murderer, or when laws are passed that outlaw Communism or Christianity, or requires everyone above 6 to own and learn to shoot a sidearm, or if Muslims aren't as "peaceable" as they claim and they force Sharia Law onto America and you have to start paying a tax because you aren't a Muslim, or.......
If everything is subjective then Slashdot has no reason to exist because opinion are meaningless.
the DOJ doesn't investigate Microsoft after the flood of incidents involving MS hijacking two standards bodies, funding proxy attacks against other corporations, bribing bloggers and journalists with expensive laptops to write puff pieces about VISTA... their misdeeds seem to never end. They've proven that ethics is foreign to them.
But, what can you expect? With all the Congressmen they've bribed on both sides of the isle, and a,fter Bush emasculated the DOJ and made it Microsoft's lapdog, Microsoft has been able to get away with acts that would have resulted in jail terms for management of poorer corporations.
The ONLY reason why Microsoft's lapdog is going after Google now is because Microsoft has been unable to FAIRLY compete with Google in the market place.
The Atlantic Ocean is getting a few centimetres wider each year. Molten rock is emerging from the Earth's mantle at the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, providing new seabed, and as it solidifies, records the magnetic field. As we move away from the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, we encounter progressively older rocks, forming a continuous record many millions of years long. It turns out that on the average, the Earth's magnetic field reverses every 500,000 years or so. The rocks tell us the last reversal happened about 780,000 years ago, making the next reversal overdue. At the point of transition the Earth's magnetic field vanishes, along with our protection. Strange changes in the magnetic field in the South Atlantic could indicate the transition has started. If this is true, what can we expect?
The literature if filled with research using magnetic reversals to prove various hypotheses. Also, the magnetic reversal is sited as a proof against Creationists contention that the Earth is less than 25K years old and the magnetic field hasn't reversed itself.
Corporate special interests are wining and dining judges at fancy resorts under the pretext of "educating" them about complicated legal issues. Nothing for FREE, a July 2000 report by Community Rights Counsel (CRC), showed that these junkets appear to be working as their sponsors intend, encouraging rulings that strike down environmental protections and line the pockets of junket sponsors. CRC's most recent report, Tainted Justice, released in March 2004, expands on Nothing for FREE.
You see, it works just like the "Fact-finding" junkets that Congress take each summer and around all the major vacation periods.
I made three of them, one for each TV in my house. My small 12" color was also had an HD TV tuner and I was able to test all three antennas. They all worked the same and were able to bring in 16 digital signals, some from as far as 50 miles away, but only half came in strong. The rest needed some help so I bought a 12dB pre-amp for $8. THat helped another 4 or 5, leaving about 4 or 5 with an occasional "low signal" message.
Oh, I also used 10 gage Copper wire instead of clothes hangers, but after building them I decided that the clothes hangers worked just as well.
About a dozen years ago a company dug a trench through my yard to bury a fiber optic cable. It was for our city government, which was going to setup a public utiltiy to connect to the Internet because the cable and telecos were not responding to requests and their proposals would cost too much for too slow a service.
Of course, the cable and telecos whined to Congress about "unfair competition", plus they greased the political wheels via "campaign contributions". Congress agreed and asked the cable and telecos if they would be willing to do it. "Why of course, but we'd need to be reimbursed for our expenses." Congress gave them $200B or so to cover "their expenses", but the funding bill didn't have any penalties for non-compliance. So, the cable and telecos TOOK the $200B as pure profit, going mostly to upper management as salary and "bonuses" and stock holders as extra dividends, but promptly FORGOT to do their part of the bargin -- actually complete the fiber optic deployment.
So, I set here using a 10Mb/s connection that costs me $72/month (no cable TV included, unless I want to pay an additional $55/month) while my friends in Japan and Korea, who have fiber optic systems, enjoy 100Mb/s connections for 1/4th the price.
Don't you just love greedy corporate monopolies run with the blessings of the best Congress money can buy, because most are paid off by lobbyists? Not! Those vermin cost each of us $2,000 for NOTHING. May they rot in Hell.
some 60 years ago I remember a study which proved that Pepsi Cola caused Polio. It was a statistical study correlating the consumption of Pepsi with the rise of Polio. Statistics -- the currently favorite method of lying.
Corporate greed, along with job outsourcing, HB1 importing and illegal immigration is rapidly turning the USA into a 2nd world nation.
I pay $72/mo for a "10Mb/s" bandwidth that clocks out at 8.5Mb/s. No cable TV.
Almost fifteen years ago my city fathers decided that the Ingernet was too important a national resource to be monopolized by the cable and telcoms for profit. They decided to install a city owned fiber optic cable. Why not? We have a city owned police force, fire department and school system. A city owned local, state, national and international communication system affordable and accessible by the poorest of us was, and still is, and excellent idea.
The cable and telcos went crying to Congress about "unfair" competition and their lobbyists paid enough Congressmen of so that Congress passed a law making it illegal for cities to "compete" with cable and telcoms in furnishing the Internet. To "help" the telcoms finish the job the villages, towns and cities started Congress GAVE the cable and telcoms $200B to "finish" laying the fiber optic cables in this country. The greedy cable and telcoms immediately POCKETED the money and promptly forgot about their obligation to finish laying the cable. Classic corporate greed, approved by congress because congress included no provisions to FORCE the cable and telcoms to finish the job. That's right - there were no punishments for non-performance in that 200B Congressional giveaway.
IF the US voters had any brains, and their politicians had any ethics, they'd DEMAND the cable and telcoms FINISH the job of laying the optical cable and converting from Copper wire to fiber optics, AT NO COST TO THE CONSUMERS. Then we'd have 100Mb bandwidth and the ISPs wouldn't be able to play the "pipe" game and extort more money from consumers for "better" service. As it is, they are playing word games with Net Neutrality, and using it as justification for their extortions.
You do know that the GNOME and KDE dev crews are meeting this summer in a joint conference, don't you?
Some sort of merging would be nice but there are a lot of hurdles to leap over, the first being that GNOME is built using C and KDE is built using C++.
The second is that GNOME requires at least 6 separate additional apps be installed in order to do development, while KDE supplies everything that is needed in one download file.
The third is that GTK+ is a UI toolkit only, while QT4 includes both the GUI designer AND an API for database connectivity, threading, console app development, and many, many more features.
The fourth is that GNOME offers an LGPL license to facilitate the inclusion of proprietary binary files and QT requires that developers purchase a commercial developer's license in order to include proprietary binary files in a distro. That license could cost as much as $3K apiece and $1.5K/year for support. This is, no doubt, the BIG reason why ISVs prefer GNOME over KDE.
However, GNOME already includes KDE components which enable GNOME users to run KDE applications, and KDE include GNOME components that allow it run GNOME apps, so a lot of progress has been made already. I will wager that even more progress will be made at this summer's conference.
Aren't you aware of the Linux development paradigm that has been the rule since Linus released Linux?... "Release Early, release often!" FOSS depends upon the users helping in the development of software, not whining about perceived or real problems.
Bruce Byfield summarized his findings with the following statement: How stable KDE 4.1 will be when released at the end of this month is anybody's guess. But, judging from its features, the release will be a major milestone in the 4.x series. Unfortunately, it will almost certainly not be the complete answer to user discontent that has been promised. It might even drive large number of users away from KDE altogether.
Such a reaction would be misguided. KDE 4.x has many features, including the use of scalable vector graphics and natural language searches that make it the most innovative free desktop currently in development. Moreover, if you dislike some of its experiments, you can work around them with no more trouble than it takes to change your desktop wallpaper -- for instance, one of the widgets you can add to the desktop is a KDE 3.5.x menu.
That is wise advice.
Troy Unrau introduced KDE4, before the first beta was released, on Jan 1, 2007 with the "Road to KDE4" series at http://dot.kde.org/1167723426
Before he resigned KDE4 to focus on his Masters in Geology degree, Troy posted the following comments: We knew there would be some pushback to the major changes in KDE 4.0, because, believe it or not, history is simply repeating itself. KDE 2.0 was met almost exactly the same way, although open source was flying a lot lower under the public radar in those days. It took until KDE 2.2 before distros mostly stopped shipping KDE 1.1.2 and were happy with 2.x.ferent standard. Somehow though, there's still a lot of positive press about KDE out there, which means that the developers have done something right (or us Marketing guys are worth our weight in Rhodium...) and the naysayers have not killed a project they confess to love.
So my message to all the disgruntled users out there are: use KDE 3.5.x, and wait until 4.x makes you happy, or better yet, help. That's what the Mac OS users did. That's what the Apache users did. That's what our KDE 2.x users did. The software you are getting from the KDE project is free, worked on by a team of developers that actually like to use their own software. Improvements are coming fast, and KDE 4.1.0 is scheduled for July. 4.2.0 for January, etc. If you use 4.0.x, have found issues, and would like to help improve 4.1 before the release, grab the SVN version, using KDE4Daily (virtual machine image), the automated kdesvn-build script, anonsvn, and file bugs. Join the bug squashing days that are announced via planetkde or the dot. And bring a positive attitude because KDE is yours, just as much as any coder!
The hysteria in some complaints (and deliberate FUDing and astroturfing in others) is misplaced. FOSS software is not static, especially when there is a vibrant body of users CONTRIBUTING to its development (coding, testing, documenting or donations). Users who do not contribute but only complain are "poisonous users". A project grows when it has an amply supply of contributing users. Any project dies when its users are poisonous.
It is also obvious that some "complainers" are not KDE users at all. Their motives are obvious. A lot of this brouhaha has been exploited by a few bloggers trying to increase their page hits by inflammatory comments with little basis in fact.
They are NOT looking for objects on a "crash course for Earth". The article stated that they were looking for asteroids whose orbits lie ENTIRELY WITHIN the Earth's orbit. IF the asteroid's orbit does not cross the Earth's orbit then only those satellites whose orbits are tangent to the Earth's orbit or within 3,800 miles will impact the Earth. I suspect that the number of asteroids with those orbital parameters are so small as to be nearly non-existent.
The real question is why are they looking for asteroids that will never hit the Earth? What's the purpose?
Seriously, anyone who thinks that Solar energy cannot generate power on a cloudy day hasn't looked into the data supplied by the Solar Power Tower II project performed by the University of California at Barstow, CA between 1987 and 1997. The completed 10MW pilot plant produced power 24/7 for 30 days. On cloudy days they found that the towers could collected at least 3MW, and this from just a quarter section of land. SPT's use flat, chrome plated, front reflected mirrors that dynamically follow the Sun and focus the reflected Sunlight onto a ceramic cylinder atop a tower 100M tall. While UC, IBM, Italy, Spain and others contributed to the development of the concept the USA is the only one of the developers not seriously using it.
Over a year ago Madrid, Spain turned the key on a 60MW SPT plant and plans to quickly upgrade it to 300MW. This is NOT about photovoltaic collectors.
Dr. Bartlett once remarked that "Modern farming is nothing more than a way of using Land to convert oil into food." IF, FOR ANY REASON, oil become short in supply it will only take about 30 days before the EPA can begin investigating the impact on the environment of millions of decaying bodies, dead from starvation.
Slashdot Mirror
the VISTA delusion!
Even Microsoft thinks so. That's why they are in a rush to replace it with Windows 7.
the Linux desktop market share in Germany is only 25%.
Well, since I have been using Linux for 10 years, and enjoying the benefits of the contributions of MANY other programmers, I find NOTHING wrong with GPL'ing any application that I write, and have done so.
My employer paid for, and renews, a Qt License. The support from Trolltech is excellent, second to none and better than most, especially when one considers what they get for what they pay to the likes of Oracle or Microsoft.
I learned C++ and Qt just three years before I retired. My first effort with both tools is documented here:
http://wiki.qtcentre.org/index.php?title=Programming_in_Qt4_and_C%2B%2B'
Exactly, and the best tool to do that with is QT4 from Trolltech.
Using their new, free, Qt-Creator GUI RAD IDE one can write source once and compile for either Linux or Windows.
Qt-Creator is available for free on both platforms.
With careful use of compiler defines one can also, with the same code, write against Oracle and PostgreSQL in the same source and compile on either platform without changing a line of code.
Compile in the static mode and you won't have to worry about missing libraries.
I don't use or know about the Mac but, unlike Windows, I have yet to hear of a virus bringing down hundreds of thousands of Macs within a short period of time. (CodeRed, anyone?) Until that event appears in the newspapers, and there would be no way to keep it secret, how can one say the Mac is vulnerable? It's looks like a concession to the anti-virus houses, now that windows has pre-empted them with its own product.
How much of Apple's "new vulnerability", if it is indeed vulnerable, could be attributed to the fact that their OS is a proprietary, closed source application which lacks the "To a 1000 eyeballs all bugs are shallow" benefit?
Linux netbook market share is now around 30%. How long do you guys think it will be before a real (infects tens or hundreds of thousands) virus shows up. (Ya, I know. Some wanker is going to suggest that they have to sell a hundred thousand first. ha ha.)
Contrary to all the advice from child "experts" posting on this topic, most of whom probably never raised a child, go ahead and get a laptop for your child.
If you bought books for his age wouldn't you have to hold them, turn the pages for him, and read the contents to him and point out the pictures? Of course, How is a laptop any different? It's not. The big advantage you'll have with a laptop is that as he gets older and smarter you won't have a pile of discarded books to dispose of. You'll just browse to websites designed for kids the current age of yours.
A few years ago I bought a laptop as a college graduation gift for my daughter and put MEPIS on in dual boot mode so she could use OpenOffice and not break her piggy bank buying an Office license. I suspected that her 4 year old son would want to use it too, and Linux has lots of free games for youngsters. He learned to use the mouse playing Bubbles, and it taught him timing and coordination as well. Now, at 7, he is a master of the keyboard and mouse, and holds no fear of either the computer or the Internet. Mommy has no fear either because he can't visit undesirable websites.
My Son began reading children's astronomy books to my second grandson before he was a year old. Later, my son began showing him NASA launch videos on Youtube. Now, at 2 1/2, he can name the planets on sight, and list them in order from Venus outward. He can name the class of rocket on any launch video he sees, and he can identify the Moon, Venus and Jupiter in the evening sky. Because his dad introduced him to his laptop computer when he was barely a year old, Jordan is comfortable around it and the mouse. To him it is just another tool, just like his toy tools set.
A laptop is just a more powerful and useful book. Oh, before some of you self-appointed experts spout off some more nonsense from Dr. BenjaminSpok about them turning into couch potatoes or social introverts, both boys are very outgoing, athletic and love to romp and play with their moms and dads, their friends, and with grandpa! :-)
Get the child a computer. It will do BOTH you a ton of good and will be a good bonding experience. Your "thing" together!
And the next time a porn picture pops up on your computer while you are trying to navigate to some kids site, while your childing are waiting and watching, shall we indict you for aiding and abetting the abuse of a minor?
For Americans "Congress shall make no law ... abridging the freedom of speech,"
abridge /brd/ [uh-brij]
-verb (used with object), abridged, abridging.
1. to shorten by omissions while retaining the basic contents: to abridge a reference book.
2. to reduce or lessen in duration, scope, authority, etc.; diminish; curtail: to abridge a visit; to abridge one's freedom.
3. to deprive; cut off.
Defining someone else's utterance or writing as "hate" speech (politically incorrect) and then outlawing it is an example of abridgment, which destroys freedom of speech. That political expediency can be abused by some other group which may happen to gain power to make illegal those who, for example, publicly state that God does not exist, thus silencing YOUR freedom of speech.
A similar farce exists in China, where freedom of speech and religion are guaranteed under their constitution but not respected by those in power, so people are regularly fined and/or imprisoned for speaking against the government or for practicing a religion not recognized by the party in power.
needs enemies?
And your statement that "Right and Wrong are completely subjective" sounds erudite but is also completely subjective. Both "Right" and "Wrong" exist. That is surely true or your statement is totally worthless because opinion does not matter. The fact that you posted your opinion is proof that you do not believe what you wrote: your act contradicts your belief.
For example, American Society has been highly tuned to call "child abuse" WRONG. and zealots for that issue have identified just about every form of Adult-child interaction as child abuse. It's leading us to a nation filled with narcissistic, self-centered, uncontrollable brats. No one should care if it is all subjective.
IF it is subjective would it be WRONG if one of those brats decided to kill you just for the fun of it, or do you think it is OK to, because morality is subjective and there is no such thing as RIGHT or WRONG?
Would it be WRONG if I decide that I don't need to get a job, or pay taxes, or obey laws, but just support myself by stealing from you, or selling drugs to your mother or your kids? What if I, and those who think like I do, gain a majority and pass laws making it legal to take from you and giving to me, so that a lot of what you make by your own efforts is now given to me, even though I make no effort at all? Or, what if there are not a majority who think like me but I get ACORN to register a lot of illegal aliens, dead people, toon characters and Martians to vote, some of them voting 70 times each, just to get into your pocket? Is that RIGHT or WRONG?
IF it is all subjective then stop whining when you get ripped off, or over taxed, or the potholes aren't filled, or your mother dies when a bridge collapsed because some crooked politician took a bribe from a contractor to allow substandard materials to be used in its construction, or they execute a murderer, or when laws are passed that outlaw Communism or Christianity, or requires everyone above 6 to own and learn to shoot a sidearm, or if Muslims aren't as "peaceable" as they claim and they force Sharia Law onto America and you have to start paying a tax because you aren't a Muslim, or .......
If everything is subjective then Slashdot has no reason to exist because opinion are meaningless.
a plan to suppress free speech on the Internet. it's nothing you haven't been experiencing for years.
After all, there's been no real freedom of expression through printed or visual media since the 60s. Why should the Internet be any exception?
the DOJ doesn't investigate Microsoft after the flood of incidents involving MS hijacking two standards bodies, funding proxy attacks against other corporations, bribing bloggers and journalists with expensive laptops to write puff pieces about VISTA ... their misdeeds seem to never end. They've proven that ethics is foreign to them.
But, what can you expect? With all the Congressmen they've bribed on both sides of the isle, and a,fter Bush emasculated the DOJ and made it Microsoft's lapdog, Microsoft has been able to get away with acts that would have resulted in jail terms for management of poorer corporations.
The ONLY reason why Microsoft's lapdog is going after Google now is because Microsoft has been unable to FAIRLY compete with Google in the market place.
out flowings aren't due to flips of the Earth's magnetosphere?
mmm... Geologists have been claiming magnetic flips since Warner. From the National Research Council of Canada:
http://www.nrc-cnrc.gc.ca/eng/education/astronomy/tapping/2007/2007-05-29.html
The Atlantic Ocean is getting a few centimetres wider each year. Molten rock is emerging from the Earth's mantle at the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, providing new seabed, and as it solidifies, records the magnetic field. As we move away from the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, we encounter progressively older rocks, forming a continuous record many millions of years long. It turns out that on the average, the Earth's magnetic field reverses every 500,000 years or so. The rocks tell us the last reversal happened about 780,000 years ago, making the next reversal overdue. At the point of transition the Earth's magnetic field vanishes, along with our protection. Strange changes in the magnetic field in the South Atlantic could indicate the transition has started. If this is true, what can we expect?
The literature if filled with research using magnetic reversals to prove various hypotheses. Also, the magnetic reversal is sited as a proof against Creationists contention that the Earth is less than 25K years old and the magnetic field hasn't reversed itself.
http://tripsforjudges.org/ says otherwise. They just hide the income in different ways.
Corporate special interests are wining and dining judges at fancy resorts under the pretext of "educating" them about complicated legal issues. Nothing for FREE, a July 2000 report by Community Rights Counsel (CRC), showed that these junkets appear to be working as their sponsors intend, encouraging rulings that strike down environmental protections and line the pockets of junket sponsors. CRC's most recent report, Tainted Justice, released in March 2004, expands on Nothing for FREE.
You see, it works just like the "Fact-finding" junkets that Congress take each summer and around all the major vacation periods.
how much did it take to lubricate the Judge?
I looked around last weekend for an HD TV antenna (really just a UHF antenna) and while Googling the web I found this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EWQhlmJTMzw
I made three of them, one for each TV in my house. My small 12" color was also had an HD TV tuner and I was able to test all three antennas. They all worked the same and were able to bring in 16 digital signals, some from as far as 50 miles away, but only half came in strong. The rest needed some help so I bought a 12dB pre-amp for $8. THat helped another 4 or 5, leaving about 4 or 5 with an occasional "low signal" message.
Oh, I also used 10 gage Copper wire instead of clothes hangers, but after building them I decided that the clothes hangers worked just as well.
http://zarafa.com/
About a dozen years ago a company dug a trench through my yard to bury a fiber optic cable. It was for our city government, which was going to setup a public utiltiy to connect to the Internet because the cable and telecos were not responding to requests and their proposals would cost too much for too slow a service.
Of course, the cable and telecos whined to Congress about "unfair competition", plus they greased the political wheels via "campaign contributions". Congress agreed and asked the cable and telecos if they would be willing to do it. "Why of course, but we'd need to be reimbursed for our expenses." Congress gave them $200B or so to cover "their expenses", but the funding bill didn't have any penalties for non-compliance. So, the cable and telecos TOOK the $200B as pure profit, going mostly to upper management as salary and "bonuses" and stock holders as extra dividends, but promptly FORGOT to do their part of the bargin -- actually complete the fiber optic deployment.
So, I set here using a 10Mb/s connection that costs me $72/month (no cable TV included, unless I want to pay an additional $55/month) while my friends in Japan and Korea, who have fiber optic systems, enjoy 100Mb/s connections for 1/4th the price.
Don't you just love greedy corporate monopolies run with the blessings of the best Congress money can buy, because most are paid off by lobbyists? Not! Those vermin cost each of us $2,000 for NOTHING. May they rot in Hell.
http://www.newnetworks.com/failedfiberstates.htm
some 60 years ago I remember a study which proved that Pepsi Cola caused Polio. It was a statistical study correlating the consumption of Pepsi with the rise of Polio. Statistics -- the currently favorite method of lying.
I agree.
Corporate greed, along with job outsourcing, HB1 importing and illegal immigration is rapidly turning the USA into a 2nd world nation.
I pay $72/mo for a "10Mb/s" bandwidth that clocks out at 8.5Mb/s. No cable TV.
Almost fifteen years ago my city fathers decided that the Ingernet was too important a national resource to be monopolized by the cable and telcoms for profit. They decided to install a city owned fiber optic cable. Why not? We have a city owned police force, fire department and school system. A city owned local, state, national and international communication system affordable and accessible by the poorest of us was, and still is, and excellent idea.
The cable and telcos went crying to Congress about "unfair" competition and their lobbyists paid enough Congressmen of so that Congress passed a law making it illegal for cities to "compete" with cable and telcoms in furnishing the Internet. To "help" the telcoms finish the job the villages, towns and cities started Congress GAVE the cable and telcoms $200B to "finish" laying the fiber optic cables in this country. The greedy cable and telcoms immediately POCKETED the money and promptly forgot about their obligation to finish laying the cable. Classic corporate greed, approved by congress because congress included no provisions to FORCE the cable and telcoms to finish the job. That's right - there were no punishments for non-performance in that 200B Congressional giveaway.
IF the US voters had any brains, and their politicians had any ethics, they'd DEMAND the cable and telcoms FINISH the job of laying the optical cable and converting from Copper wire to fiber optics, AT NO COST TO THE CONSUMERS. Then we'd have 100Mb bandwidth and the ISPs wouldn't be able to play the "pipe" game and extort more money from consumers for "better" service. As it is, they are playing word games with Net Neutrality, and using it as justification for their extortions.
You do know that the GNOME and KDE dev crews are meeting this summer in a joint conference, don't you?
Some sort of merging would be nice but there are a lot of hurdles to leap over, the first being that GNOME is built using C and KDE is built using C++.
The second is that GNOME requires at least 6 separate additional apps be installed in order to do development, while KDE supplies everything that is needed in one download file.
The third is that GTK+ is a UI toolkit only, while QT4 includes both the GUI designer AND an API for database connectivity, threading, console app development, and many, many more features.
The fourth is that GNOME offers an LGPL license to facilitate the inclusion of proprietary binary files and QT requires that developers purchase a commercial developer's license in order to include proprietary binary files in a distro. That license could cost as much as $3K apiece and $1.5K/year for support. This is, no doubt, the BIG reason why ISVs prefer GNOME over KDE.
However, GNOME already includes KDE components which enable GNOME users to run KDE applications, and KDE include GNOME components that allow it run GNOME apps, so a lot of progress has been made already. I will wager that even more progress will be made at this summer's conference.
Remove the +(12) from near the end and you see a NYY baseball cap
Why?
Aren't you aware of the Linux development paradigm that has been the rule since Linus released Linux? ... "Release Early, release often!" FOSS depends upon the users helping in the development of software, not whining about perceived or real problems.
Bruce Byfield summarized his findings with the following statement:
How stable KDE 4.1 will be when released at the end of this month is anybody's guess. But, judging from its features, the release will be a major milestone in the 4.x series. Unfortunately, it will almost certainly not be the complete answer to user discontent that has been promised. It might even drive large number of users away from KDE altogether.
Such a reaction would be misguided. KDE 4.x has many features, including the use of scalable vector graphics and natural language searches that make it the most innovative free desktop currently in development. Moreover, if you dislike some of its experiments, you can work around them with no more trouble than it takes to change your desktop wallpaper -- for instance, one of the widgets you can add to the desktop is a KDE 3.5.x menu.
That is wise advice.
Troy Unrau introduced KDE4, before the first beta was released, on Jan 1, 2007 with the "Road to KDE4" series at http://dot.kde.org/1167723426
Before he resigned KDE4 to focus on his Masters in Geology degree, Troy posted the following comments:
We knew there would be some pushback to the major changes in KDE 4.0, because, believe it or not, history is simply repeating itself. KDE 2.0 was met almost exactly the same way, although open source was flying a lot lower under the public radar in those days. It took until KDE 2.2 before distros mostly stopped shipping KDE 1.1.2 and were happy with 2.x.ferent standard. Somehow though, there's still a lot of positive press about KDE out there, which means that the developers have done something right (or us Marketing guys are worth our weight in Rhodium...) and the naysayers have not killed a project they confess to love.
So my message to all the disgruntled users out there are: use KDE 3.5.x, and wait until 4.x makes you happy, or better yet, help. That's what the Mac OS users did. That's what the Apache users did. That's what our KDE 2.x users did. The software you are getting from the KDE project is free, worked on by a team of developers that actually like to use their own software. Improvements are coming fast, and KDE 4.1.0 is scheduled for July. 4.2.0 for January, etc. If you use 4.0.x, have found issues, and would like to help improve 4.1 before the release, grab the SVN version, using KDE4Daily (virtual machine image), the automated kdesvn-build script, anonsvn, and file bugs. Join the bug squashing days that are announced via planetkde or the dot. And bring a positive attitude because KDE is yours, just as much as any coder!
The hysteria in some complaints (and deliberate FUDing and astroturfing in others) is misplaced. FOSS software is not static, especially when there is a vibrant body of users CONTRIBUTING to its development (coding, testing, documenting or donations). Users who do not contribute but only complain are "poisonous users". A project grows when it has an amply supply of contributing users. Any project dies when its users are poisonous.
It is also obvious that some "complainers" are not KDE users at all. Their motives are obvious. A lot of this brouhaha has been exploited by a few bloggers trying to increase their page hits by inflammatory comments with little basis in fact.
They are NOT looking for objects on a "crash course for Earth". The article stated that they were looking for asteroids whose orbits lie ENTIRELY WITHIN the Earth's orbit. IF the asteroid's orbit does not cross the Earth's orbit then only those satellites whose orbits are tangent to the Earth's orbit or within 3,800 miles will impact the Earth. I suspect that the number of asteroids with those orbital parameters are so small as to be nearly non-existent.
The real question is why are they looking for asteroids that will never hit the Earth? What's the purpose?
Seriously, anyone who thinks that Solar energy cannot generate power on a cloudy day hasn't looked into the data supplied by the Solar Power Tower II project performed by the University of California at Barstow, CA between 1987 and 1997. The completed 10MW pilot plant produced power 24/7 for 30 days. On cloudy days they found that the towers could collected at least 3MW, and this from just a quarter section of land. SPT's use flat, chrome plated, front reflected mirrors that dynamically follow the Sun and focus the reflected Sunlight onto a ceramic cylinder atop a tower 100M tall. While UC, IBM, Italy, Spain and others contributed to the development of the concept the USA is the only one of the developers not seriously using it.
Over a year ago Madrid, Spain turned the key on a 60MW SPT plant and plans to quickly upgrade it to 300MW. This is NOT about photovoltaic collectors.
Dr. Bartlett once remarked that "Modern farming is nothing more than a way of using Land to convert oil into food." IF, FOR ANY REASON, oil become short in supply it will only take about 30 days before the EPA can begin investigating the impact on the environment of millions of decaying bodies, dead from starvation.