Reptski, a compass CAN tell you where you are, wehn used in conjunction with a topographical map. It is the oldest, and still most accurate method of determining your position.
Take a toppo map. Orient it to the ground (that is, use the compass to determine north, then orient the map accordingly). Choose two or three prominent physical features. Take a compass bearing to each. As you take the bearing, use the edge of the compass to draw a line from the feature back along the bearing. For this, the compass needle will need to point north, the compass itself then acting as a protractor, as the bezel has been set to the bearing. Do this a minimum of twice, three times if you want your position withine ONE meter.
Soldiers in armies around the world are taught to do this every day of the year, and it works.
Damn, must be a very slow news day. Come on, I know taking jabs at Bill is fun, but this one is downright stupid. Even if they are Bill's doodles and chicken scratches, anyone with half a brain knows that handwriting analysis is NOT considered a valid diagnostic tool. So called "graphologists" who say they can detect personality traits from handwriting are no more capable of doing so than someone with a crystal ball can tell me anything about me. This type of graphology has basically been discredited in legitimate diagnostic psychology, but obviously reporters could not care less.
My experience is not quite on the same track, but it has been hellish. HP has been outsourcing it's field engineer force. Over the last six months service levels have been abhorrent. I work for a largish company that produces a complex network application, and we sell the hardware to run it as well as the app itself. We originally were a "Compaq" shop, but, thanks to the merger, are now in the grips of HP. Our contracts for support call for 24/7 4 hour call out. Well, thanks to their new, more efficient outsourcing model, it is often 48 hours before parts and engineer arrive to fix the hardware. And, more often than not, the FE screws it up. We have customers that now refuse to let specific engineers into their premises. yeah, outsourcing is great.
I still remember being dumbfounded, and awed when I first read the series back when it came out. The art was cool the story so different from the usual superhero drivel of the time. Except for Frank Miller's Dark Night Returns series (sorry cannot remember the precise date on it's release, but it was not that long after Watchmen), the superhero genre had, at that time, grown so stale. I only hope they do not ruin cherished memories when they make this movie.
I have been astounded by the mess that US Federal elections are for years. I see no reason why an election for the Presidency cannot be Federalized, and run with ONE set of universally applied rules.
Here to the North, we have an amazingly simple, yet elegant system for casting our votes. We have a paper balllot in which the candidates for the riding (a riding being analagous to your districts) are listed, and beside each of which's name is placed a simple square. Mark an X with a pen beside the name of your preferred candidate and you are done. This could easily be put in place for the election of the US president. No dangling chads, or hanging dimples or offset butterflies.
However, I can see the cries that would come forth from the myriad of organizers and beaureaucrats at the state and county level: Oh No, you can't trample on States' Rights. Well, I say screw em. Put in place a simple, low tech solution that will work for years to come.
OMG, I hope this never comes to pass. I can see the asshats who drive now trying to manouvre their flying cars in an airborne rush hour. The thought is terrifying. If the average, moronic motorist can barely manage to handle a car in two dimensions, imagine the pandemonium that will result when they have to deal with 3.
The cabbies in Vancouver are horrendous. I say taxi's should NEVER have this opportunity. We will wind up with flaming wrecks screaming out of the sky because the cabbie couldn't handle a car, let alone an aircraft.
Alas, the pipe dreamers who have been championing this insane idea for more than 50 years now will never let up. Though, I suppose the world is safer that they decided to push flying cars, rather than, say, design buildings.
You can bank on it. They will complain about any use of any animal. No matter what the underlying use of the animal may be. Anfd yes, that includes saving human lives. You see, in the eyes of groups like PETA, Earth First, The ALF, animals have the same, exactly the same, rights that you and I enjoy. Some are even so extreme in their beliefs that they will risk human lives and welfare to protect the lives of animals. They are all NUTS.
I have tried to watch both series on more than one occasion. Every time I attempted to watch them, I had to change the channel. They were poorly written, poorly acted, poorly produced crap. I am not sad to see them go. I love sci-fi. But i REALLY hate BAD sci-fi, which both of these programs would qualify as. Now, if only we could convince Fox to back Firefly again.
Hey, a Seagull strikes me as a BAD choice for a mascot. I do not know what they may be referred to where the people who chose the gull as their mascot live, but here in Vancouver, we call them shithawks. They are ill mannered, pesky beasts that defecate everywhere. If it were not illegal to kill coastal scavengers, you can bet there would be far fewer shithawks around here.
At last. I have often opined to fellow fans of the Ringworld that someone ought to make a miniseries. They agree, then shrug their shoulders and say: Yeah, but what can you really do about it? I am ever so pleased to hear this news. The Ringworld seriess is, by far, one of my favourite science fiction franchises. I have read the books over, and over, and have thoroughly enjoyed them each time. Larry Niven is a great storyteller, and I am looking forward to this hitting the tube.
I am happy to hear that there will be at least a little more Farscape goodness coming. Better than no new episodes at all. I hope that this may even stimulate the series going back into full blown series production. It is, by far, one of the finest, most imaginitive sci-fi series ever put onto the small screen.
Depending upon where you live, you may wind up in jail if you did what you propose. For instance, as an example, the U.S. has very tight weapons export control regulations. What you propose would more than likely fall under that. You would have to be registered as an arms dealer, and be able to produce end user certificates for each distributed copy of the system extant. Without those, you would wind up in a federal prison for about 20 years. Most other countries have similar requirements. Hell, the Brits killed John Bull, the inventor of the supergun when he moved to S.A. and started negotiations fwith Iraq for selling them superguns. I would not walk near anything to do with weapons if I were you.
I, for one, find the prospect frightening. The UN is a large, neigh, obese beauraucracy that will only make domain management a nightmare. There will be endless committee meetings, squabbling between delegates from different countries on whose views are more important or relevant, etc. Oh, wait a minute, thanks to Bill Clinton we already have that with ICANN. I guess there may not be that much of a change afterall.
From the Cambridge English Dictionary:
phantom [Show phonetics]
adjective [before noun]
describes something that you imagine exists or that appears to exist, although in fact it does not:
Although she had to have her leg amputated, she still feels as though she's got a phantom limb.
They discovered it was a phantom organization set up for the processing of drug profits.
UK Although she grew bigger and felt ill, she later discovered it was a phantom (US false) pregnancy.
I think this aptly describes the Phantom concole. I wonder if Mr. Roberts is aware of the irony. Or did he chose this name for his "phantom" product knowingly, thinking it a good joke to play with other people's money?
I just re-read the HardOCP article, and I can see why this guy is suing. He is hoping the threat of legal action will scare us all into quietude, and allow himn to continue parting people from their money with promises of rich rewards to be generated by his revolutionary technology.
It reminds me of the old fable: The Emperor's New Clothes.
LOL
LOL! I love this kind of prognostication. So emphatic and decisive in their numbers, and such. Sounds to me like they are playing the "Emperor's New Clothes" with their master. LOL!!!!
I honestly see the point being raised by the telco's regarding a public agency coming into the market. I too would be concerned if a mincipal, county or other public agency built out a network, and then started selling it's excess capacity in the space where I had to compete. Especially if that agency could undercut me because of subsidies (and it WILL be subsidised), and was not subject to the same regulatory oversight that my business was subject to.
Mind you, I also think the telco's need a good kick in the ass, as they are notoriously slow to adopt new technology, and often their service sucks. So, if pricing were market driven, and made the telco's act smarter, then that would be alright.
This doesn't surprise me in the least. While it sickens me, I don't find this to be that startling. I, for one, have always thought the people who write malware are scum. They may try to justify their actions with lame claims of: 'Oh, i only did it to show how weak the system is', or 'I am only trying to learn more about the internal workings of the O/S'. But, let's face it, they are little more than little creeps with serious social behavioural problems. They know what they are doing is wrong, yest can find any manner of reason to justify their behaviour. In the end, they are criminals, scum, and a**es. That some are now selling harvestedd ip addresses to spammers should come as no surprise at all. I just wish I knew a way to punish them that would not only satisfy the gravity of their offence, but would also serve as a good deterrent. A pox on all of them.
Here, north of the 49th, we use paper ballots. All candidates names and party affiliations for a particular riding (electoral zone for those not familiar with Canadian terminology) are rpinted on the ballot. There is an empty square next to each candidate's name. Using a pen, you mark an X inside the box next to the name of the candidate of your choice. At the end of the day, scrutineers from each party count the ballots, and report the results to the returning officer for the voting station. If there is a dispute, they count them again. Finally, the returning officer may also count if the dispute is not resolved. Now, we have several time zones here, last polls closing 8pm Pacific. The results of an entire federal election are known by 11PM Pacific that day.
Robert Cringely actually wrote an article on our elections here. He seemed to like it, and proposed using it in the US. I do believe his article was slashdotted as well. It is simple, straightforward, and idiot proof. Unlike electronic voting seems to be. Amazing what you can still do with a simple slip of paper.
It should be a no brainer for the courts to deal with this one. Basically, as I understand it, a patent may not be granted if prior art exists. Given that the DNS and email have existed in some form or another for a long time now, and predating the original application date of this patent, the USPTO ought not to have granted it to begin with. However, from what I have read about the total disarray at the USPTO, it is not surprising that this amde it through. Apparently, they are so overwhelmed they just pull out a rubber stamp if no one opposes the application. Heck, I believe it was slashdotted when a lawyer, as an object example of how silly the system has become, had his child file for, and receive a patant on the swing.
True, but no one forced him to take a job where he is affected by the noise and temperature for 30 mins. Basically, I was trying to say that he ought to stop being a milquetoast.
Well, I admit, that I would not want to have to put up with that myself. But it is only half a day. For three years I endured much worse. Try moving by foot, 100lbs of kit strapped to your back, at night, leading 80 pers cross country, temp 1 degree celcious, have to cross a river in flood, then dig in to a defensive position. Yep, had to actually dig my own office, and hold said defensive position for four days, conduct night patrols every night, then withdraw to another position, by foot, some 3 kilometers away, and hold that for another two days. Or spend 2 weeks in the North West Territories in February, living in a tent where icicles hang down from INSIDE the tent, piss literally freezes before it hits the ground, and by the time you bring your coffee to your lips, there is a film of ice across the top. Or spend 3 weeks in the middle of high summer in the Maritime Provinces of Canada conducting endless hours of advance to contact all day long, attack after attack, day after day for a week at a time, then having to go out on patrol all night long, and start again the next day.
When you have done all that, you may feel free to complain about your half day a week of mild discomfort.
Huah!
It doesn't surprise me that Enterprise may get scrapped. It is yet another in a long line of tiresome Trek series. The franchise has been milked to death, and ought to be laid to rest for good. It never ceases to amaze me what passes for stories in everything that follwed after TNG. The follow on series were shallow, with two dimensional characters, thin plots, and little to excite the imagination. At last: RIP Star Trek?
I recall reading about this device almost two years ago. I was pumped when I read it, and was looking forward to seeing it hit the shelves. Now, here we are, another preview of a prototype at CES, and the sheep in the mainstream IT press are cooing over it, and giving it awards! This thing has been vapor since it's original announcement. They had nice mock ups on their web page from day one. But still, no product. I will believe it when I can HOLD it in my own hand.
The linked article is woefully short on p[articulars. How can anyone really craft a reasoned opinion based upon that article. There is no mention of the systems that are being replaced, nor how many linux systems are being put in. The article was bereft of any real details. Is this a Linux for Unix swap? How many systems? What will each of those systems be doing? Are mission critical apps, like ERP, financials and HR going to actually be running on Linux? Or is Linux going to be dropped in as a low/mid-range system for authentication, file and print sharing? But I know the majority of the posts here, without even reading them are going to be: Yeah! Linux beats out M$! Bah!
Slashdot Mirror
Reptski, a compass CAN tell you where you are, wehn used in conjunction with a topographical map. It is the oldest, and still most accurate method of determining your position. Take a toppo map. Orient it to the ground (that is, use the compass to determine north, then orient the map accordingly). Choose two or three prominent physical features. Take a compass bearing to each. As you take the bearing, use the edge of the compass to draw a line from the feature back along the bearing. For this, the compass needle will need to point north, the compass itself then acting as a protractor, as the bezel has been set to the bearing. Do this a minimum of twice, three times if you want your position withine ONE meter. Soldiers in armies around the world are taught to do this every day of the year, and it works.
Damn, must be a very slow news day. Come on, I know taking jabs at Bill is fun, but this one is downright stupid. Even if they are Bill's doodles and chicken scratches, anyone with half a brain knows that handwriting analysis is NOT considered a valid diagnostic tool. So called "graphologists" who say they can detect personality traits from handwriting are no more capable of doing so than someone with a crystal ball can tell me anything about me. This type of graphology has basically been discredited in legitimate diagnostic psychology, but obviously reporters could not care less.
My experience is not quite on the same track, but it has been hellish. HP has been outsourcing it's field engineer force. Over the last six months service levels have been abhorrent. I work for a largish company that produces a complex network application, and we sell the hardware to run it as well as the app itself. We originally were a "Compaq" shop, but, thanks to the merger, are now in the grips of HP. Our contracts for support call for 24/7 4 hour call out. Well, thanks to their new, more efficient outsourcing model, it is often 48 hours before parts and engineer arrive to fix the hardware. And, more often than not, the FE screws it up. We have customers that now refuse to let specific engineers into their premises. yeah, outsourcing is great.
I still remember being dumbfounded, and awed when I first read the series back when it came out. The art was cool the story so different from the usual superhero drivel of the time. Except for Frank Miller's Dark Night Returns series (sorry cannot remember the precise date on it's release, but it was not that long after Watchmen), the superhero genre had, at that time, grown so stale. I only hope they do not ruin cherished memories when they make this movie.
I have been astounded by the mess that US Federal elections are for years. I see no reason why an election for the Presidency cannot be Federalized, and run with ONE set of universally applied rules. Here to the North, we have an amazingly simple, yet elegant system for casting our votes. We have a paper balllot in which the candidates for the riding (a riding being analagous to your districts) are listed, and beside each of which's name is placed a simple square. Mark an X with a pen beside the name of your preferred candidate and you are done. This could easily be put in place for the election of the US president. No dangling chads, or hanging dimples or offset butterflies. However, I can see the cries that would come forth from the myriad of organizers and beaureaucrats at the state and county level: Oh No, you can't trample on States' Rights. Well, I say screw em. Put in place a simple, low tech solution that will work for years to come.
OMG, I hope this never comes to pass. I can see the asshats who drive now trying to manouvre their flying cars in an airborne rush hour. The thought is terrifying. If the average, moronic motorist can barely manage to handle a car in two dimensions, imagine the pandemonium that will result when they have to deal with 3.
The cabbies in Vancouver are horrendous. I say taxi's should NEVER have this opportunity. We will wind up with flaming wrecks screaming out of the sky because the cabbie couldn't handle a car, let alone an aircraft.
Alas, the pipe dreamers who have been championing this insane idea for more than 50 years now will never let up. Though, I suppose the world is safer that they decided to push flying cars, rather than, say, design buildings.
You can bank on it. They will complain about any use of any animal. No matter what the underlying use of the animal may be. Anfd yes, that includes saving human lives. You see, in the eyes of groups like PETA, Earth First, The ALF, animals have the same, exactly the same, rights that you and I enjoy. Some are even so extreme in their beliefs that they will risk human lives and welfare to protect the lives of animals. They are all NUTS.
I have tried to watch both series on more than one occasion. Every time I attempted to watch them, I had to change the channel. They were poorly written, poorly acted, poorly produced crap. I am not sad to see them go. I love sci-fi. But i REALLY hate BAD sci-fi, which both of these programs would qualify as. Now, if only we could convince Fox to back Firefly again.
Hey, a Seagull strikes me as a BAD choice for a mascot. I do not know what they may be referred to where the people who chose the gull as their mascot live, but here in Vancouver, we call them shithawks. They are ill mannered, pesky beasts that defecate everywhere. If it were not illegal to kill coastal scavengers, you can bet there would be far fewer shithawks around here.
At last. I have often opined to fellow fans of the Ringworld that someone ought to make a miniseries. They agree, then shrug their shoulders and say: Yeah, but what can you really do about it? I am ever so pleased to hear this news. The Ringworld seriess is, by far, one of my favourite science fiction franchises. I have read the books over, and over, and have thoroughly enjoyed them each time. Larry Niven is a great storyteller, and I am looking forward to this hitting the tube.
I am happy to hear that there will be at least a little more Farscape goodness coming. Better than no new episodes at all. I hope that this may even stimulate the series going back into full blown series production. It is, by far, one of the finest, most imaginitive sci-fi series ever put onto the small screen.
Depending upon where you live, you may wind up in jail if you did what you propose. For instance, as an example, the U.S. has very tight weapons export control regulations. What you propose would more than likely fall under that. You would have to be registered as an arms dealer, and be able to produce end user certificates for each distributed copy of the system extant. Without those, you would wind up in a federal prison for about 20 years. Most other countries have similar requirements. Hell, the Brits killed John Bull, the inventor of the supergun when he moved to S.A. and started negotiations fwith Iraq for selling them superguns. I would not walk near anything to do with weapons if I were you.
I, for one, find the prospect frightening. The UN is a large, neigh, obese beauraucracy that will only make domain management a nightmare. There will be endless committee meetings, squabbling between delegates from different countries on whose views are more important or relevant, etc. Oh, wait a minute, thanks to Bill Clinton we already have that with ICANN. I guess there may not be that much of a change afterall.
From the Cambridge English Dictionary: phantom [Show phonetics] adjective [before noun] describes something that you imagine exists or that appears to exist, although in fact it does not: Although she had to have her leg amputated, she still feels as though she's got a phantom limb. They discovered it was a phantom organization set up for the processing of drug profits. UK Although she grew bigger and felt ill, she later discovered it was a phantom (US false) pregnancy. I think this aptly describes the Phantom concole. I wonder if Mr. Roberts is aware of the irony. Or did he chose this name for his "phantom" product knowingly, thinking it a good joke to play with other people's money? I just re-read the HardOCP article, and I can see why this guy is suing. He is hoping the threat of legal action will scare us all into quietude, and allow himn to continue parting people from their money with promises of rich rewards to be generated by his revolutionary technology. It reminds me of the old fable: The Emperor's New Clothes. LOL
LOL! I love this kind of prognostication. So emphatic and decisive in their numbers, and such. Sounds to me like they are playing the "Emperor's New Clothes" with their master. LOL!!!!
I honestly see the point being raised by the telco's regarding a public agency coming into the market. I too would be concerned if a mincipal, county or other public agency built out a network, and then started selling it's excess capacity in the space where I had to compete. Especially if that agency could undercut me because of subsidies (and it WILL be subsidised), and was not subject to the same regulatory oversight that my business was subject to. Mind you, I also think the telco's need a good kick in the ass, as they are notoriously slow to adopt new technology, and often their service sucks. So, if pricing were market driven, and made the telco's act smarter, then that would be alright.
I think he would look more like Snidely from the old Dudley Doright cartoon.
This doesn't surprise me in the least. While it sickens me, I don't find this to be that startling. I, for one, have always thought the people who write malware are scum. They may try to justify their actions with lame claims of: 'Oh, i only did it to show how weak the system is', or 'I am only trying to learn more about the internal workings of the O/S'. But, let's face it, they are little more than little creeps with serious social behavioural problems. They know what they are doing is wrong, yest can find any manner of reason to justify their behaviour. In the end, they are criminals, scum, and a**es. That some are now selling harvestedd ip addresses to spammers should come as no surprise at all. I just wish I knew a way to punish them that would not only satisfy the gravity of their offence, but would also serve as a good deterrent. A pox on all of them.
Here, north of the 49th, we use paper ballots. All candidates names and party affiliations for a particular riding (electoral zone for those not familiar with Canadian terminology) are rpinted on the ballot. There is an empty square next to each candidate's name. Using a pen, you mark an X inside the box next to the name of the candidate of your choice. At the end of the day, scrutineers from each party count the ballots, and report the results to the returning officer for the voting station. If there is a dispute, they count them again. Finally, the returning officer may also count if the dispute is not resolved. Now, we have several time zones here, last polls closing 8pm Pacific. The results of an entire federal election are known by 11PM Pacific that day. Robert Cringely actually wrote an article on our elections here. He seemed to like it, and proposed using it in the US. I do believe his article was slashdotted as well. It is simple, straightforward, and idiot proof. Unlike electronic voting seems to be. Amazing what you can still do with a simple slip of paper.
It should be a no brainer for the courts to deal with this one. Basically, as I understand it, a patent may not be granted if prior art exists. Given that the DNS and email have existed in some form or another for a long time now, and predating the original application date of this patent, the USPTO ought not to have granted it to begin with. However, from what I have read about the total disarray at the USPTO, it is not surprising that this amde it through. Apparently, they are so overwhelmed they just pull out a rubber stamp if no one opposes the application. Heck, I believe it was slashdotted when a lawyer, as an object example of how silly the system has become, had his child file for, and receive a patant on the swing.
True, but no one forced him to take a job where he is affected by the noise and temperature for 30 mins. Basically, I was trying to say that he ought to stop being a milquetoast.
Well, I admit, that I would not want to have to put up with that myself. But it is only half a day. For three years I endured much worse. Try moving by foot, 100lbs of kit strapped to your back, at night, leading 80 pers cross country, temp 1 degree celcious, have to cross a river in flood, then dig in to a defensive position. Yep, had to actually dig my own office, and hold said defensive position for four days, conduct night patrols every night, then withdraw to another position, by foot, some 3 kilometers away, and hold that for another two days. Or spend 2 weeks in the North West Territories in February, living in a tent where icicles hang down from INSIDE the tent, piss literally freezes before it hits the ground, and by the time you bring your coffee to your lips, there is a film of ice across the top. Or spend 3 weeks in the middle of high summer in the Maritime Provinces of Canada conducting endless hours of advance to contact all day long, attack after attack, day after day for a week at a time, then having to go out on patrol all night long, and start again the next day. When you have done all that, you may feel free to complain about your half day a week of mild discomfort. Huah!
It doesn't surprise me that Enterprise may get scrapped. It is yet another in a long line of tiresome Trek series. The franchise has been milked to death, and ought to be laid to rest for good. It never ceases to amaze me what passes for stories in everything that follwed after TNG. The follow on series were shallow, with two dimensional characters, thin plots, and little to excite the imagination. At last: RIP Star Trek?
I recall reading about this device almost two years ago. I was pumped when I read it, and was looking forward to seeing it hit the shelves. Now, here we are, another preview of a prototype at CES, and the sheep in the mainstream IT press are cooing over it, and giving it awards! This thing has been vapor since it's original announcement. They had nice mock ups on their web page from day one. But still, no product. I will believe it when I can HOLD it in my own hand.
The linked article is woefully short on p[articulars. How can anyone really craft a reasoned opinion based upon that article. There is no mention of the systems that are being replaced, nor how many linux systems are being put in. The article was bereft of any real details. Is this a Linux for Unix swap? How many systems? What will each of those systems be doing? Are mission critical apps, like ERP, financials and HR going to actually be running on Linux? Or is Linux going to be dropped in as a low/mid-range system for authentication, file and print sharing? But I know the majority of the posts here, without even reading them are going to be: Yeah! Linux beats out M$! Bah!