Only considering the keyboard and not the mouse, a laptop keyboard being narrower than a desktop keyboard forces more inward rotation of the shoulders when typing. The result is rounded back syndrome.
You may be okay with one of HP's 17" laptops that has a large keyboard with a dedicated numeric pad / cursor pad. Your shoulders don't have to rotate as much if you use the numeric pad as a dedicated cursor pad.
Of course as another person stated, the mouse is the big issue for computer users. Even changing to a lighter weight mouse can help some people. The new wireless mice are tougher on your body because they weigh much more than a corded mouse (no batteries).
Another thing that is helpful for the mouse is getting the tracking speed way up and learning to use the mouse that way. You end up moving your hand less which puts less stress on your system.
So much of "what works" though is subjective. Even general ergonomic rules don't seem to work that well for some people. Follow your instincts and listen to what your body tells you.
Why are you so against Apple making software for Windows? If Apple were able to capture 25% of the Windows "digital hub" market, that would be somewhere in the neighborhood of hundreds of millions of customers. Mac OS X is only 7 million users.
I think it would tremendously good for Apple to make as much money as possible. Somehow I think having 20 times as many customers is a good thing. People who have the money and want the prestige of a luxury computer will still buy a Mac.
It seems like a great win for Apple to have as many customers as possible.
The world changes. When there are more iPod/Windows users than all Mac users combined, Apple the company will not be the same as the past. Apple will hard time telling millions of iPod/Windows users that Apple will not port any (more) software to Windows. To the millions of iPod/Windows cystomers, Apple will have a uncompelling "digital hub" story if they only have one iApp (iTunes) that runs on Windows.
It may not be anything like what I am talking about. Maybe Apple will do something different like release OS X on x86. Or maybe Apple will reduce prices on Mac when they have a large number of more qualified candidates that are interested in Mac.
As Apple is rapidly losing global market share (currently at 1.8% total, Mac OS X is about 30% of the total), it will be interesting to see what happens. I see Apple putting more and more work into making their hardware run Windows and look like Windows. I would be surprised if the one button mouse is going to last much longer if Apple wants to get people to switch from PC to Mac. Apple should also license ClearType from Microsoft and get some good quality font rendering on their system. Or perhaps FreeType 2.0 -- and I hope Apple will keep the code they take from the open source community open, not hide it away.
Pretty soon there will be more iPod users on Windows than there are Mac OS X users. If Apple iPod sales continue to climb, this difference will grow to the point where there will be millions of iPod/Windows users stuck with only iTunes.
Music is only one aspect of a "digital hub". If you build one leg of a digital hub on Windows, people of course are going to wonder "where's the rest?". Windows users do not share the Mac view that "Windows is bad".
For example, the iPod can be used today for storing digital pictures from your digital camera. It is braindead for Apple to think that a Windows user is going to switch his or her entire PC platform just to run iPhoto to work with those pictures. PC users are not stupid. They will want Apple software to work with Apple hardware as nothing else will work right. So there will be expectations. Apple certainly could charge money for iLife or include iLife/Windows with the iPod/Windows.
You may not like it, but Mac is failing in the market place. The market share drops every day. People are not "switching". If anything people are switching to Linux, not Mac. The iPod is doing well for Apple, but only because Windows users are buying it. That's a big change to swallow for a company that prides itself on how much it hates the PC.
So when iPod/Windows is Apple's #1 customer base, things will change. All those Windows customers will hammer on Apple for a better solution than just iTunes. They will not want to buy a Mac, but will want Apple to port more software to Windows. Otherwise they are left with a half-ass multimedia solution. Just wait and see...
There are well over a billion PC's out there. Pretty much everything in the portable digital music player market (which is only a few million units so far), is "early adopter". Mainstream people do not have a portable MP3/AAC/OGG/etc player. Mainstream people do have a PC. To mainstream people, "pay digital music" is just at the beginning. It is not something well understood and used by the bulk of PC owners.
Currently the iPod is the "established early adopter product". It is established because it's been out a while and has a lot of marketing behind it. It's still early adopter because of what I just mentioned above.
As Apple sells more iPods and iPod minis to Windows users, there will be more pressure on Apple to make their "digital hub" available to Windows users. I don't think many Windows users are going to pony up the big bucks just to switch to Mac. Most of them probably can't afford a Mac. So they are more likely to dump the iPod/mini/iTunes and switch to platform that works will all the Windows software for working with content. It will be interesting to see what happens when Windows users realize they are locked into iTunes forever (without cheating the DRM system) for the music they buy from the iTunes music store. There's a lot yet to be discovered which is why this whole market is "early adopter".
I am referring to Apple's strategy of becoming a "digital hub". iTunes alone makes for a rather meager digital hub.
If the bulk of Apple's customers are Windows users, then it would make sense for Apple to make their "digital hub" available to Windows users.
I would expect there to be considerable interest from the Windows customer base in "doing stuff with music". GarageBand, iMovie, Soundtrack, and other Apple "digital hub" apps are likely to be wanted by Windows users. This will especially be true if Apple-style DRM is needed to utilize Apple content outside of iTunes.
Haha. Of course the iPod Windows customers are using iTunes for Windows. Do they have any choice?
When I said "music/media" software, I was referring to the other pieces of the "what do I do with my music?" puzzle.
You know that thing called GarageBand. Soundtrack. iMovie. etc.
If Apple is going to the "digital hub" company and most of Apple's customers are using Windows, then it forces them to make more decisions and choices than if they simply offer iTunes. Just iTunes alone on Windows is a very meager digital hub and likely will be non-competitive with offerings from Microsoft and other vendors.
Look at the transcript of Apple's latest conference call. The sales of iPods are in the millions, far outselling Mac OS X. And this is without the iPod mini factored into the product line.
If Apple keeps selling iPods at a healthy rate, there will soon be more iPod users than Mac OS X users.
Today, the bulk of new iPod customers run Windows, not Mac OS X.
With the iPod mini opening up iPod sales to more buyers, the balance towards Windows will shift even more. There is no fighting "the great multiplier".
As most Windows users don't seem to be all that fond of Apple's "medical computing" white motif, making iPods in different colors was simply a "must do" business decision.
Very soon now we will see a fundamental shift at Apple. Numerically, they will have more Microsoft Windows customers than Mac customers. Apple will then have to decide what to do with them. Most of them will be early adopters, buying the iPod/mini because it is the established portable music player.
Apple will have to make the choice of whether to port their music/media software to Windows or will face losing most of those customers... who do not want to switch platforms (at a very high cost) just because of a music player.
When there are many "good" music players available in a year or two, these customers will be making the decision to get a new iPod or one of the many newer/cheaper/just-as-good winPods (which will work with many music stores, not just one).
All in all, the digital music market promises to be full of interesting developments over the next 1-2 years as companies jockey for position. Unless Apple opens up their products, ports their products and makes them cheaper, I would think their chances of being the ultimate winner are low. My bet is that most people will not switch computing platforms over a music player.
Microsoft's beta test of their RFID system was wildly successful.
As hardware RFID units were expensive at the time, Microsoft used a software GUID inside of every Microsoft Office document. Millions of beta testers had their documents tracked by Microsoft without their knowledge. The program was a resounding success. It even helped Microsoft get their sweetheart "zero consequences" antitrust settlement with the USDOJ.
Now Microsoft is rolling out the same system to hardware vendors. Of course Microsoft's closed source / closed data will prevent the hardware vendors from knowing about Microsoft's additional RFID GUIDs and hidden back doors... until that fateful day when the vendor considers using a non-Windows platform. Within moments, Microsoft's "special accounts" team (think Agent Smith & friends) shows up and tells them why that will never be a good idea...
The Microsoft antitrust case in the USA also looked promising at the beginning.
The people of the USA had a real advocate in Thomas Penfield Jackson who also made up his mind that Microsoft was an illegal monopoly and something substantial needed to be done about it.
Microsoft bought some time with appeals and then bought the USDOJ with their secret cash/spyware deal. Note Microsoft has been one of the biggest cash contributors on Capitol Hill since the sweetheart zero-consequences deal they made. It's no surprise, no one in government has shown any interest in doing anything substantive about the Microsoft monopoly. Why give up your Microsoft Money monthly payment?
I would expect that the EU will get some cash and a better data feed from the Microsoft Spy Network.
And then Greedy Bill can get back to stealing IP from others and screwing the world.
Just today the US government took additional safety measures against the continued generation and spread of mad cow.
The Food and Drug Administration (news - web sites) announced steps late Monday to close loopholes in its livestock feed ban -- a key protection against spread of the brain-wasting disease in cattle -- and to make sure that people don't consume risky animal parts in processed foods and supplements.
Obviously for such steps to be taken mad cow must be more than the fantasy disease that you are saying it is.
I know many scientists who could not accept a new idea if it came up to them and whacked them on the side of the head. So your stalwart defense against new ideas is nothing new. It's one reason why science makes so many blunders and why technology does so much harm to nature.
To address one of your points of long ago regarding anonymity, let me say this: When two people want to have an authentic discussion, in good faith, they sit at the table together. Neither one puts on a mask. As you have a mask on, I can only assume you are not at the table in good faith. This is simple human nature.
One day, perhaps when you are older, you will understand life better. Often it takes the wisdom of mortality to help scientists understand that there is a human side to their work. Not everything is "known facts" and "proofs". When this day comes, you will take off your mask and have a real discussion. Life is precious, life is short. Why walk the path of fear? Why be so afraid of new ideas?
This new law is very inhospitable to business. The cost of many kinds of business transactions (basically anything to do with information) will skyrocket due to the added friction that the law adds. The simple result will be that business moves to other countries that do not have dumb laws like this.
Not surprisingly, the top four economies of the next 50 years (Brazil, Russia, India, China) do not have the anti-competitive intellectual property laws of the US (and the EU).
The new databaes law joins software patents (i.e. patents on ideas) on the list of top business killers. Software patents, of course, are a guarantee to make sure no individuals or small businesses can compete with the big corporations. As small tech businesses are an important part of the foundation of the US economy, one can expect the US economy to continue its decline.
This new law is a leading indicator that America is killing its own economy faster than anyone could have anticipated. The so-called "land of opportunity" will soon be no more real than a Hollywood movie.
Mea culpa. You're right. It's Wind River software on the rover and Java on the ground.
I got confused by what Yahoo! news reported --
"PASADENA, California (Reuters) - The same piece of software that lets people all around the world play video games on their cell phones is now letting scientists drive the ultimate remote-controlled car across the surface of Mars."
[... at the very end...]
"Separately, Alameda, California-based Wind River Systems, created the embedded software in Spirit and its twin, Opportunity, that manage a wide range of functions, including data collection and communications."
So perhaps the Java game Rover control software sent the rover OS into never never land.
Many comments make light of the fact that Windows crashed on the rover.
However, the rover runs Java, not Windows.
I would hazard that the rover is still collecting garbage...
Let us hope NASA has a way to restart the VM from Earth...
From your continuing spewing of "I know everything there is to know, never mind the unknowns", it would seem that you prefer to be ignorant and live in denial. Like the typical American you'd be happier watching your TV and believing that only what it tells you is true.
First of all, it is incredibly uncommon for strict vegetarians (those who don't drink milk) to get diabetes. Try looking at the health of people around the world who are even mostly vegetarians and you will find very very low incidences of heart disease, diabetes, and cancer (all common in meat eaters).
Second, for those vegetarians that drink milk, of course they are at risk of prion-based diseases.
Third, the "BSE scare" is a well-founded concern. Unless you have raised your brain solely on American beef and TV, you know there was a major BSE outbreak in Europe. This outbreak was far worse than it had to be because of industry and government coverups and a basic unwillingless to do BSE testing on all the cows. Go to the BBC and European news sites and do the damn research instead of throwing cheap insults at me. Britain and Europe learned the hard way, through many deaths, about BSE.
Fourth, typically it is politicians that hurl stupid insults at other people, not normal people. As you have a penchant for insulting me, I would gather, empirically, that you are the politician. Or you may just be one of those "angry" people (one of the symptoms of CJD by the way).
Fifth, your admission of trying to trap me tells me everything I need to know about you -- that you are the one with the agenda, the covert purposes and an undisclosed special interest. Good people put what they know on the table and work together to find out what is real and to make each person's life better using the information and tools at hand.
If you cannot even have a discussion on Slashdot without running your little mind games and hidden agenda, it shows what a wretched person you are. I would guess that like most people who require "proof from quantum theory on up", you have low self-esteem. That could also explain the personal attacks. If you cannot think clearly, well, that is another CJD symptom.
You do not even have the courage to post your messages using your named account. That also tells me a lot on who is running the little games. You don't even have the strength of conviction to stand behind your words. Or perhaps if you are the original naysayer, don't want everyone on Slashdot to know how hard it is for you to say "I was wrong".
Lastly, I am not trying to convince you of anything. If you want to learn something and make a decision about it, do the reading. Yes, this requires more work than watching TV so you probably don't know how to do it. If you are sensitive to this topic because you've eaten beef (or other cow products) and you know your brain is not working as well as it used to... I'd suggest turmeric and a program of anti-oxidants and brain-centric nutrition. Try and save what's left, for your sake. Good luck.
Just as the "Project for a New American Century" (PNAC) *needed* a "Pearl Harbor" to implement its police state plans, the forces that wish to shut down and control the information age need a "Digital Pearl Harbor" to implement their digital police state plans.
The phrasing "Digital Pearl Harbor" is used in a fashion very similar to how "Pearl Harbor" is used in the PNAC documents.
For further reading (also: google "PNAC pearl harbor")
Two years ago a project set up by the men who now surround George W Bush said what America needed was "a new Pearl Harbor". Its published aims have, alarmingly, come true. : John Pilger:12 Dec 2002
The cabal of war fanatics advising the White House secretly planned a "transformation" of defense policy years ago, calling for war against Iraq and huge increases in military spending. A "catalyzing event -- like a new Pearl Harbor" -- was seen as necessary to bring this about.
March 10 -- Years before George W. Bush entered the White House, and years before the Sept. 11 attacks set the direction of his presidency, a group of influential neo-conservatives hatched a plan to get Saddam Hussein out of power. (...) And in a report just before the 2000 election that would bring Bush to power, the group predicted that the shift would come about slowly, unless there were "some catastrophic and catalyzing event, like a new Pearl Harbor."
So when events start leading up to "Digital Pearl Harbor"... make sure you've got all the apps and source code you care about on local storage. Because everything that in any way possible could be utilized by a "digital terrorist" is going to be banned and taken off the net.
"They come up with a plan to launch a manned, one-way mission to Titan using the remaining shuttle fleet and vintage Apollo spacecraft and Saturn V launchers."
If Stephen Baxter could use the Saturn V for a one way trip to Titan, I see no reason why we can't use it for Mars instead! Baxter has even done the research:-)
And just for the record, yes the book does drag, but it also has a great story of a dilapidated American space program doing something heroic which I found a tale worth reading.
I don't know much about the politics of prion science. From my time working with scientists, I think many of them were thought of being asses... likely IMO because they were. Science is not what many people would call a socially healthy community. So I am not surprised to hear other scientists put the dirt on a Nobel winner. All part of that cold scientific hate machine.
As for work being stolen, that goes on all the time and has been a mainstay of higher eduction for hundreds of years. I'm not saying I agree with it, but look at almost any Ph.D program and you will find the same sort of idea/brain leverage/theft.
Today there are still many millions of dollars being spent on prion research to investigate the CJD (not just the variant form) - Alzheimer's link.
As I posted previously, there was a discovery that is helping us understand how prions work with respect to human memory.
If we keep learning, I think it is worthwhile to keep the research going. At the end of the day if we figure out some important things on the prevention side of medicine, the cost savings and the life savings will be substantial.
I don't know what is wrong with people but the concept of "knowing your meat is safe" vs. "guessing your meat is safe" met with some rather bizarre resistance. Europe and Japan have incredibly thorough BSE testing compared to the USA because of the all the links to human disease that they either discovered or suspected.
Looking back on this topic, what I walk away with is the disappointment that there are actually people in America who believe that what we eat has nothing to do with diseases we get...
We just don't know what happens when people eat as much meat as Americans do. There indeed may be many "eat too much meat" diseases that would hardly show up in countries where they eat meat sparingly.
Maybe there is some very good reason the cow is sacred in India, eh?
You might be on to something there. We still don't have any solid evidence of what is causing the massive growth of diabetes in this country.
If much of the beef is indeed infected with BSE, it offers something interesting to look into. As you know many people getting diabetes are quite young which provides a further reason to track down your brilliant correlation.
Good thinking! It's a healthy sign to see someone who isn't dismissive when he or she doesn't know all the facts.
Apple had to come out with the MEGA... because they are offering a special deal to celebrate the 20th Anniversary of the Mac... for only $150,000 you can get your MEGA preloaded with every song from the iTunes Music Store:-)
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Only considering the keyboard and not the mouse, a laptop keyboard being narrower than a desktop keyboard forces more inward rotation of the shoulders when typing. The result is rounded back syndrome.
You may be okay with one of HP's 17" laptops that has a large keyboard with a dedicated numeric pad / cursor pad. Your shoulders don't have to rotate as much if you use the numeric pad as a dedicated cursor pad.
Of course as another person stated, the mouse is the big issue for computer users. Even changing to a lighter weight mouse can help some people. The new wireless mice are tougher on your body because they weigh much more than a corded mouse (no batteries).
Another thing that is helpful for the mouse is getting the tracking speed way up and learning to use the mouse that way. You end up moving your hand less which puts less stress on your system.
So much of "what works" though is subjective. Even general ergonomic rules don't seem to work that well for some people. Follow your instincts and listen to what your body tells you.
Good luck.
I think it would tremendously good for Apple to make as much money as possible. Somehow I think having 20 times as many customers is a good thing. People who have the money and want the prestige of a luxury computer will still buy a Mac.
It seems like a great win for Apple to have as many customers as possible.
The world changes. When there are more iPod/Windows users than all Mac users combined, Apple the company will not be the same as the past. Apple will hard time telling millions of iPod/Windows users that Apple will not port any (more) software to Windows. To the millions of iPod/Windows cystomers, Apple will have a uncompelling "digital hub" story if they only have one iApp (iTunes) that runs on Windows.
It may not be anything like what I am talking about. Maybe Apple will do something different like release OS X on x86. Or maybe Apple will reduce prices on Mac when they have a large number of more qualified candidates that are interested in Mac.
As Apple is rapidly losing global market share (currently at 1.8% total, Mac OS X is about 30% of the total), it will be interesting to see what happens. I see Apple putting more and more work into making their hardware run Windows and look like Windows. I would be surprised if the one button mouse is going to last much longer if Apple wants to get people to switch from PC to Mac. Apple should also license ClearType from Microsoft and get some good quality font rendering on their system. Or perhaps FreeType 2.0 -- and I hope Apple will keep the code they take from the open source community open, not hide it away.
Anyhow, it will be fun as the story unfolds.
Egads. Think different for a moment, please.
Pretty soon there will be more iPod users on Windows than there are Mac OS X users. If Apple iPod sales continue to climb, this difference will grow to the point where there will be millions of iPod/Windows users stuck with only iTunes.
Music is only one aspect of a "digital hub". If you build one leg of a digital hub on Windows, people of course are going to wonder "where's the rest?". Windows users do not share the Mac view that "Windows is bad".
For example, the iPod can be used today for storing digital pictures from your digital camera. It is braindead for Apple to think that a Windows user is going to switch his or her entire PC platform just to run iPhoto to work with those pictures. PC users are not stupid. They will want Apple software to work with Apple hardware as nothing else will work right. So there will be expectations. Apple certainly could charge money for iLife or include iLife/Windows with the iPod/Windows.
You may not like it, but Mac is failing in the market place. The market share drops every day. People are not "switching". If anything people are switching to Linux, not Mac. The iPod is doing well for Apple, but only because Windows users are buying it. That's a big change to swallow for a company that prides itself on how much it hates the PC.
So when iPod/Windows is Apple's #1 customer base, things will change. All those Windows customers will hammer on Apple for a better solution than just iTunes. They will not want to buy a Mac, but will want Apple to port more software to Windows. Otherwise they are left with a half-ass multimedia solution. Just wait and see...
There are well over a billion PC's out there. Pretty much everything in the portable digital music player market (which is only a few million units so far), is "early adopter". Mainstream people do not have a portable MP3/AAC/OGG/etc player. Mainstream people do have a PC. To mainstream people, "pay digital music" is just at the beginning. It is not something well understood and used by the bulk of PC owners.
Currently the iPod is the "established early adopter product". It is established because it's been out a while and has a lot of marketing behind it. It's still early adopter because of what I just mentioned above.
As Apple sells more iPods and iPod minis to Windows users, there will be more pressure on Apple to make their "digital hub" available to Windows users. I don't think many Windows users are going to pony up the big bucks just to switch to Mac. Most of them probably can't afford a Mac. So they are more likely to dump the iPod/mini/iTunes and switch to platform that works will all the Windows software for working with content. It will be interesting to see what happens when Windows users realize they are locked into iTunes forever (without cheating the DRM system) for the music they buy from the iTunes music store. There's a lot yet to be discovered which is why this whole market is "early adopter".
I am referring to Apple's strategy of becoming a "digital hub". iTunes alone makes for a rather meager digital hub.
If the bulk of Apple's customers are Windows users, then it would make sense for Apple to make their "digital hub" available to Windows users.
I would expect there to be considerable interest from the Windows customer base in "doing stuff with music". GarageBand, iMovie, Soundtrack, and other Apple "digital hub" apps are likely to be wanted by Windows users. This will especially be true if Apple-style DRM is needed to utilize Apple content outside of iTunes.
Haha. Of course the iPod Windows customers are using iTunes for Windows. Do they have any choice?
When I said "music/media" software, I was referring to the other pieces of the "what do I do with my music?" puzzle.
You know that thing called GarageBand. Soundtrack. iMovie. etc.
If Apple is going to the "digital hub" company and most of Apple's customers are using Windows, then it forces them to make more decisions and choices than if they simply offer iTunes. Just iTunes alone on Windows is a very meager digital hub and likely will be non-competitive with offerings from Microsoft and other vendors.
Look at the transcript of Apple's latest conference call. The sales of iPods are in the millions, far outselling Mac OS X.
And this is without the iPod mini factored into the product line.
If Apple keeps selling iPods at a healthy rate, there will soon be more iPod users than Mac OS X users.
Today, the bulk of new iPod customers run Windows, not Mac OS X.
With the iPod mini opening up iPod sales to more buyers, the balance towards Windows will shift even more. There is no fighting "the great multiplier".
As most Windows users don't seem to be all that fond of Apple's "medical computing" white motif, making iPods in different colors was simply a "must do" business decision.
Very soon now we will see a fundamental shift at Apple. Numerically, they will have more Microsoft Windows customers than Mac customers. Apple will then have to decide what to do with them. Most of them will be early adopters, buying the iPod/mini because it is the established portable music player.
Apple will have to make the choice of whether to port their music/media software to Windows or will face losing most of those customers... who do not want to switch platforms (at a very high cost) just because of a music player.
When there are many "good" music players available in a year or two, these customers will be making the decision to get a new iPod or one of the many newer/cheaper/just-as-good winPods (which will work with many music stores, not just one).
All in all, the digital music market promises to be full of interesting developments over the next 1-2 years as companies jockey for position. Unless Apple opens up their products, ports their products and makes them cheaper, I would think their chances of being the ultimate winner are low. My bet is that most people will not switch computing platforms over a music player.
Microsoft's beta test of their RFID system was wildly successful.
As hardware RFID units were expensive at the time, Microsoft used a software GUID inside of every Microsoft Office document. Millions of beta testers had their documents tracked by Microsoft without their knowledge. The program was a resounding success. It even helped Microsoft get their sweetheart "zero consequences" antitrust settlement with the USDOJ.
Now Microsoft is rolling out the same system to hardware vendors. Of course Microsoft's closed source / closed data will prevent the hardware vendors from knowing about Microsoft's additional RFID GUIDs and hidden back doors... until that fateful day when the vendor considers using a non-Windows platform. Within moments, Microsoft's "special accounts" team (think Agent Smith & friends) shows up and tells them why that will never be a good idea...
The Microsoft antitrust case in the USA also looked promising at the beginning.
The people of the USA had a real advocate in Thomas Penfield Jackson who also made up his mind that Microsoft was an illegal monopoly and something substantial needed to be done about it.
Microsoft bought some time with appeals and then bought the USDOJ with their secret cash/spyware deal. Note Microsoft has been one of the biggest cash contributors on Capitol Hill since the sweetheart zero-consequences deal they made. It's no surprise, no one in government has shown any interest in doing anything substantive about the Microsoft monopoly. Why give up your Microsoft Money monthly payment?
I would expect that the EU will get some cash and a better data feed from the Microsoft Spy Network.
And then Greedy Bill can get back to stealing IP from others and screwing the world.
Remember Microsoft's new slogan --
"Your ideas. Our profits."
I would expect Darl will be on the scene shortly, perhaps within a week, claiming that FreeDOS is also owned by SCO.
I will enter my official guess as February 2, "Groundhog Day". If Darl appears and claims more IP, then six more weeks of IP winter will be upon us.
Obviously for such steps to be taken mad cow must be more than the fantasy disease that you are saying it is.
I know many scientists who could not accept a new idea if it came up to them and whacked them on the side of the head. So your stalwart defense against new ideas is nothing new. It's one reason why science makes so many blunders and why technology does so much harm to nature.
To address one of your points of long ago regarding anonymity, let me say this: When two people want to have an authentic discussion, in good faith, they sit at the table together. Neither one puts on a mask. As you have a mask on, I can only assume you are not at the table in good faith. This is simple human nature.
One day, perhaps when you are older, you will understand life better. Often it takes the wisdom of mortality to help scientists understand that there is a human side to their work. Not everything is "known facts" and "proofs". When this day comes, you will take off your mask and have a real discussion. Life is precious, life is short. Why walk the path of fear? Why be so afraid of new ideas?
Vaya con dios.
Not surprisingly, the top four economies of the next 50 years (Brazil, Russia, India, China) do not have the anti-competitive intellectual property laws of the US (and the EU).
The new databaes law joins software patents (i.e. patents on ideas) on the list of top business killers. Software patents, of course, are a guarantee to make sure no individuals or small businesses can compete with the big corporations. As small tech businesses are an important part of the foundation of the US economy, one can expect the US economy to continue its decline.
This new law is a leading indicator that America is killing its own economy faster than anyone could have anticipated. The so-called "land of opportunity" will soon be no more real than a Hollywood movie.
I was wrong. And already admitted it. Please read my reply to the first poster who corrected me. Thanks for the additional info, though :-)
I got confused by what Yahoo! news reported --
"PASADENA, California (Reuters) - The same piece of software that lets people all around the world play video games on their cell phones is now letting scientists drive the ultimate remote-controlled car across the surface of Mars."
[... at the very end ...]
"Separately, Alameda, California-based Wind River Systems, created the embedded software in Spirit and its twin, Opportunity, that manage a wide range of functions, including data collection and communications."
So perhaps the Java game Rover control software sent the rover OS into never never land.
What framework/toolkit did MySQL use to build their new admin GUI?
Anyone know?
However, the rover runs Java, not Windows.
I would hazard that the rover is still collecting garbage...
Let us hope NASA has a way to restart the VM from Earth...
First of all, it is incredibly uncommon for strict vegetarians (those who don't drink milk) to get diabetes. Try looking at the health of people around the world who are even mostly vegetarians and you will find very very low incidences of heart disease, diabetes, and cancer (all common in meat eaters).
Second, for those vegetarians that drink milk, of course they are at risk of prion-based diseases.
Third, the "BSE scare" is a well-founded concern. Unless you have raised your brain solely on American beef and TV, you know there was a major BSE outbreak in Europe. This outbreak was far worse than it had to be because of industry and government coverups and a basic unwillingless to do BSE testing on all the cows. Go to the BBC and European news sites and do the damn research instead of throwing cheap insults at me. Britain and Europe learned the hard way, through many deaths, about BSE.
Fourth, typically it is politicians that hurl stupid insults at other people, not normal people. As you have a penchant for insulting me, I would gather, empirically, that you are the politician. Or you may just be one of those "angry" people (one of the symptoms of CJD by the way).
Fifth, your admission of trying to trap me tells me everything I need to know about you -- that you are the one with the agenda, the covert purposes and an undisclosed special interest. Good people put what they know on the table and work together to find out what is real and to make each person's life better using the information and tools at hand.
If you cannot even have a discussion on Slashdot without running your little mind games and hidden agenda, it shows what a wretched person you are. I would guess that like most people who require "proof from quantum theory on up", you have low self-esteem. That could also explain the personal attacks. If you cannot think clearly, well, that is another CJD symptom.
You do not even have the courage to post your messages using your named account. That also tells me a lot on who is running the little games. You don't even have the strength of conviction to stand behind your words. Or perhaps if you are the original naysayer, don't want everyone on Slashdot to know how hard it is for you to say "I was wrong".
Lastly, I am not trying to convince you of anything. If you want to learn something and make a decision about it, do the reading. Yes, this requires more work than watching TV so you probably don't know how to do it. If you are sensitive to this topic because you've eaten beef (or other cow products) and you know your brain is not working as well as it used to... I'd suggest turmeric and a program of anti-oxidants and brain-centric nutrition. Try and save what's left, for your sake. Good luck.
Just as the "Project for a New American Century" (PNAC) *needed* a "Pearl Harbor" to implement its police state plans, the forces that wish to shut down and control the information age need a "Digital Pearl Harbor" to implement their digital police state plans.
The phrasing "Digital Pearl Harbor" is used in a fashion very similar to how "Pearl Harbor" is used in the PNAC documents.
For further reading (also: google "PNAC pearl harbor")
Two years ago a project set up by the men who now surround George W Bush said what America needed was "a new Pearl Harbor". Its published aims have, alarmingly, come true. : John Pilger :12 Dec 2002
The cabal of war fanatics advising the White House secretly planned a "transformation" of defense policy years ago, calling for war against Iraq and huge increases in military spending. A "catalyzing event -- like a new Pearl Harbor" -- was seen as necessary to bring this about.
March 10 -- Years before George W. Bush entered the White House, and years before the Sept. 11 attacks set the direction of his presidency, a group of influential neo-conservatives hatched a plan to get Saddam Hussein out of power. (...) And in a report just before the 2000 election that would bring Bush to power, the group predicted that the shift would come about slowly, unless there were "some catastrophic and catalyzing event, like a new Pearl Harbor."
So when events start leading up to "Digital Pearl Harbor" ... make sure you've got all the apps and source code you care about on local storage. Because everything that in any way possible could be utilized by a "digital terrorist" is going to be banned and taken off the net.
If Stephen Baxter could use the Saturn V for a one way trip to Titan, I see no reason why we can't use it for Mars instead! Baxter has even done the research :-)
And just for the record, yes the book does drag, but it also has a great story of a dilapidated American space program doing something heroic which I found a tale worth reading.
As for work being stolen, that goes on all the time and has been a mainstay of higher eduction for hundreds of years. I'm not saying I agree with it, but look at almost any Ph.D program and you will find the same sort of idea/brain leverage/theft.
Today there are still many millions of dollars being spent on prion research to investigate the CJD (not just the variant form) - Alzheimer's link.
As I posted previously, there was a discovery that is helping us understand how prions work with respect to human memory.
If we keep learning, I think it is worthwhile to keep the research going. At the end of the day if we figure out some important things on the prevention side of medicine, the cost savings and the life savings will be substantial.
I don't know what is wrong with people but the concept of "knowing your meat is safe" vs. "guessing your meat is safe" met with some rather bizarre resistance. Europe and Japan have incredibly thorough BSE testing compared to the USA because of the all the links to human disease that they either discovered or suspected.
Looking back on this topic, what I walk away with is the disappointment that there are actually people in America who believe that what we eat has nothing to do with diseases we get...
Maybe there is some very good reason the cow is sacred in India, eh?
If much of the beef is indeed infected with BSE, it offers something interesting to look into. As you know many people getting diabetes are quite young which provides a further reason to track down your brilliant correlation.
Good thinking! It's a healthy sign to see someone who isn't dismissive when he or she doesn't know all the facts.
Apple had to come out with the MEGA... because they are offering a special deal to celebrate the 20th Anniversary of the Mac... for only $150,000 you can get your MEGA preloaded with every song from the iTunes Music Store :-)