Looks like a trick question. Linux is still not mature enough. It still takes a fair amount of knowhow to get a distro to work correctly. Yes, it has matured much since the first install I tried (1996). However, 20 years of computer use has worn away the last bit (sorry) of geakin' in me. I want it to work, and I want it to work now.
OS X got me interested in Macs again. The Mac OS has sucked for quite some time, which is why I stayed on PC hardware.
I spent a lot of time looking for a MS alternative that wasn't a huge time-sink. OS/2 was great, as was Be. The x86 port of Solaris was a good time. I even strayed a little with Amigas, and got my hands on an Acorn once or twice. NeXT, SGI, and SPARC were (and are) just too freakin' much money.
And life is short.
When spending the time tweaking machines, I have always found BSD (I used Net and Open) to be a far better payoff for the time. Yes, I have the occasional twinge of guilt because I now use BSD (and NeXT) once removed when I run my OS X boxes.
As I've been told, the math errors (long since corrected) in the Pentium chip were do to a table (?) that would have been generated by computer, had a person not insisted on the "human" touch and done the table themself.
Oh brother. The primates on Capital Hill _still_ haven't figured it out. You can't make everything a secret, for fear of someone creating what intelligence people call a "binary."
First:
http://www.cybergeography.org/atlas/cables.html
More to the point:
http://www.wiltelcommunications.com/map/
Which you can now overlay with:
http://www.cybergeography.org/atlas/more_isp_map s. html
I'll leave it to someone else to create a list of the long haul providers in the US.
Or, you could simply track down the issue of Wired (8.04 or 8.05, I think) that had a map showing the networks of the top dozen or so companies doing long haul work in the US.
If you look at a long-haul fiber map, you'll notice most of the fiber runs the I-10 corridor.
A couple of people have mentioned transiting the Rockies. Not a good idea. Cellular systems don't do it. Living in Western KS, I've found that Cellular systems do not enjoy a two-way flow the length of I-70.
Eastern CO is supported from Western KS, via I-70. In KS, Salina sits at the top of a "T," where I-70 meets I-35. Head South, and I-35 turns into I-45. You get to Houston (which I-10 passes through). Western CO just doesn't have much coverage.
Then there's TX. Assuming you could get solid coverage to Kerville (a little West of San Antonio), it is a _long_ , empty haul to El Paso (ok, you have Junction, Sonora, Fort Stockton, etc). There just aren't that many people in West TX, till you get to El Paso.
Next up, NM, AZ, etc. Hot hot hot. Then, cold cold cold. Not a good environment for unprotected electronic gear. Going to need plenty of local Alternative Energy sources as well.
I know there are plenty of other state-level, middle-of-nowhere link-up issues. I'm just talking about the one's I know something about.
At a minimum, it is going to take the use of the Interstate Highway system (for communication equipment to be set up, and allow easy access to be repaired), and guys with their HAM radio tickets (at least Technician class) to be able to legally opperate equipment with enough grunt. Repeaters don't require call sign ID at regular intervals, I think.
Line-Of-Sight is about 9.2 miles, at Sea Level (IIRC).
The dollar bill will not be phased out any time soon. A distinction to be made: A dollar coin is "real" money, ie. currency. A dollar bill is not. A dollar bill is actually a very spiffy I.O.U. More to the point, Dollar coins are not made by the Federal Reserve (Fed, for short).
The Fed is a private company (consortium [sp?] might be a better term). They are a collection of privately held banks that have a contract with the Federal Government to make Federal Reserve Notes. By law, the Fed is not allowed to make currency.
The Fed gets paid by the piece. They get as much for making a $1 as they do for a $100. If the $1 was taken out of circulation, they would lose 74% of their revenue from printing Federal Reserve Notes. Even if they matched circulation via the $2, they still face a revenue drop of 32%.
G. Harry Stine gave it guite a bit of ink in the "Destinies" magazines/books back in the late 70's/ early 80's. If I remember correctly, his concern was suitable building materials (what may be optimal @ 10,000 feet may not be at 10,000 miles). Tether weight was a huge problem in his calculations.
Mod this person up. Maybe you don't like the way the argument is condensed, but I'd give them a "3."
Far from flamebait, this person touches on a central issue (sorry): The making, distributing, and controlling of money.
The US has recognized that it will never do away with cash, and minimizes its usefulness as much as possible. The example: The US doesn't have anything larger than a 100 dollar bill in circulation.
Despite the revisionist history of paper money in the US, denominations up to 5000 were in general circulation. As real value of US dollars shrinks (meaning, inflation) denominations should be getting larger. Why aren't they?
1) Smaller denominations make it harder to conduct large transactions. A brick of hundreds is a bit harder to transport than a wallet full of 5Ks. Further, the US has started putting foil strips in all denominations. Why? The "War On Drugs," etc.
2) The US (in part) manages debt through the issue of paper money. It says "Federal Reserve Note" across the top for a reason. Coins do not have "Federal Reserve" on them anywhere. Paper currency in the US is a debt instrument, not "real money." Coins on the other hand, are. The Federal Reserve system is a contractor of sorts. They are responsible for the printing of Federal Reserve Notes, and they are paid by the piece. Think they aren't a tough lobby? Why has the introduction of dollar coins failed again? One dollar bills aren't taken out of circulation, helping maintain the status quo. Over 75% of the Federal Reserve Notes printed are One Dollar bills. To logically make room for dollar coins, you would lose the One Dollar bill, and ramp up printing of the Two Dollar bill. Even at full value replacement, the Fed only gets to print half as many pieces of paper.
3) The US Federal Gov relies on large amounts of cash to conduct its business on a daily basis. Anyone who has done ops in Central America knows this. Smart cards in Honduras? Yeah, right.
4) Smart cards _are_ more fragile than paper. Squibbing an EMP at a pallet of Federal Reserve Notes doesn't decrease their value.
5) Plenty of other valid reasons have been given: personal transactions, ease of use, etc.
Slashdot Mirror
Looks like a trick question. Linux is still not mature enough. It still takes a fair amount of knowhow to get a distro to work correctly. Yes, it has matured much since the first install I tried (1996). However, 20 years of computer use has worn away the last bit (sorry) of geakin' in me. I want it to work, and I want it to work now.
OS X got me interested in Macs again. The Mac OS has sucked for quite some time, which is why I stayed on PC hardware.
I spent a lot of time looking for a MS alternative that wasn't a huge time-sink. OS/2 was great, as was Be. The x86 port of Solaris was a good time. I even strayed a little with Amigas, and got my hands on an Acorn once or twice. NeXT, SGI, and SPARC were (and are) just too freakin' much money.
And life is short.
When spending the time tweaking machines, I have always found BSD (I used Net and Open) to be a far better payoff for the time. Yes, I have the occasional twinge of guilt because I now use BSD (and NeXT) once removed when I run my OS X boxes.
Peace to All,
Mike Nomad
As I've been told, the math errors (long since corrected) in the Pentium chip were do to a table (?) that would have been generated by computer, had a person not insisted on the "human" touch and done the table themself.
Oh brother. The primates on Capital Hill _still_ haven't figured it out. You can't make everything a secret, for fear of someone creating what intelligence people call a "binary."
p s. html
First:
http://www.cybergeography.org/atlas/cables.html
More to the point:
http://www.wiltelcommunications.com/map/
Which you can now overlay with:
http://www.cybergeography.org/atlas/more_isp_ma
I'll leave it to someone else to create a list of the long haul providers in the US.
Or, you could simply track down the issue of Wired (8.04 or 8.05, I think) that had a map showing the networks of the top dozen or so companies doing long haul work in the US.
EOL
If you look at a long-haul fiber map, you'll notice most of the fiber runs the I-10 corridor.
A couple of people have mentioned transiting the Rockies. Not a good idea. Cellular systems don't do it. Living in Western KS, I've found that Cellular systems do not enjoy a two-way flow the length of I-70.
Eastern CO is supported from Western KS, via I-70. In KS, Salina sits at the top of a "T," where I-70 meets I-35. Head South, and I-35 turns into I-45. You get to Houston (which I-10 passes through). Western CO just doesn't have much coverage.
Then there's TX. Assuming you could get solid coverage to Kerville (a little West of San Antonio), it is a _long_ , empty haul to El Paso (ok, you have Junction, Sonora, Fort Stockton, etc). There just aren't that many people in West TX, till you get to El Paso.
Next up, NM, AZ, etc. Hot hot hot. Then, cold cold cold. Not a good environment for unprotected electronic gear. Going to need plenty of local Alternative Energy sources as well.
I know there are plenty of other state-level, middle-of-nowhere link-up issues. I'm just talking about the one's I know something about.
At a minimum, it is going to take the use of the Interstate Highway system (for communication equipment to be set up, and allow easy access to be repaired), and guys with their HAM radio tickets (at least Technician class) to be able to legally opperate equipment with enough grunt. Repeaters don't require call sign ID at regular intervals, I think.
Line-Of-Sight is about 9.2 miles, at Sea Level (IIRC).
Potentially a pretty neat hack.
The dollar bill will not be phased out any time soon. A distinction to be made: A dollar coin is "real" money, ie. currency. A dollar bill is not. A dollar bill is actually a very spiffy I.O.U. More to the point, Dollar coins are not made by the Federal Reserve (Fed, for short).
The Fed is a private company (consortium [sp?] might be a better term). They are a collection of privately held banks that have a contract with the Federal Government to make Federal Reserve Notes. By law, the Fed is not allowed to make currency.
The Fed gets paid by the piece. They get as much for making a $1 as they do for a $100. If the $1 was taken out of circulation, they would lose 74% of their revenue from printing Federal Reserve Notes. Even if they matched circulation via the $2, they still face a revenue drop of 32%.
Now _that's_ a lobby!
G. Harry Stine gave it guite a bit of ink in the "Destinies" magazines/books back in the late 70's/ early 80's. If I remember correctly, his concern was suitable building materials (what may be optimal @ 10,000 feet may not be at 10,000 miles). Tether weight was a huge problem in his calculations.
Mod this person up. Maybe you don't like the way the argument is condensed, but I'd give them a "3."
Far from flamebait, this person touches on a central issue (sorry): The making, distributing, and controlling of money.
The US has recognized that it will never do away with cash, and minimizes its usefulness as much as possible. The example: The US doesn't have anything larger than a 100 dollar bill in circulation.
Despite the revisionist history of paper money in the US, denominations up to 5000 were in general circulation. As real value of US dollars shrinks (meaning, inflation) denominations should be getting larger. Why aren't they?
1) Smaller denominations make it harder to conduct large transactions. A brick of hundreds is a bit harder to transport than a wallet full of 5Ks. Further, the US has started putting foil strips in all denominations. Why? The "War On Drugs," etc.
2) The US (in part) manages debt through the issue of paper money. It says "Federal Reserve Note" across the top for a reason. Coins do not have "Federal Reserve" on them anywhere. Paper currency in the US is a debt instrument, not "real money." Coins on the other hand, are. The Federal Reserve system is a contractor of sorts. They are responsible for the printing of Federal Reserve Notes, and they are paid by the piece. Think they aren't a tough lobby? Why has the introduction of dollar coins failed again? One dollar bills aren't taken out of circulation, helping maintain the status quo. Over 75% of the Federal Reserve Notes printed are One Dollar bills. To logically make room for dollar coins, you would lose the One Dollar bill, and ramp up printing of the Two Dollar bill. Even at full value replacement, the Fed only gets to print half as many pieces of paper.
3) The US Federal Gov relies on large amounts of cash to conduct its business on a daily basis. Anyone who has done ops in Central America knows this. Smart cards in Honduras? Yeah, right.
4) Smart cards _are_ more fragile than paper. Squibbing an EMP at a pallet of Federal Reserve Notes doesn't decrease their value.
5) Plenty of other valid reasons have been given: personal transactions, ease of use, etc.
Be kind, please rewind.