Is Linux a realistic alternative for someone who will expect AVIs Quicktime and Real links to "just work" like she is used to?
(not trolling, I really don't know)
Install mplayer, the win32, quicktime and real codecs, and the Mozilla plugin and everything "just works." Linux still has some problems on the desktop (for instance, I'm still trying to set up automounting for my usb mass storage devices) but media playing is not one of them.
Well I'm neither a dad nor a christian, but I think "Be fruitful and multiply" fulfils that - unless it's referring to tasty mathematicians?
This was a specific statement issued to two people, not a general commandment issued to all of humanty. You also need to take things in context. This statement may be very good advice when given to the only two people on earth, but it is not so good advice applied today.
Someone needs to tell these dooms day wacko's that historically the climates have changed and fluctuated - that's what planets do! Besides global warming the planet has had global freezing (ice ages).
Yes, but I bet it wasn't too pleasant for the species currently living on the earth during those times.
You need to look at not only the impact of individual choices- but the options in controlling those choices. Who will be in charge of determining birth rates? How will it be enforced? Is what society gains worth what individuals must give up? Do you want a government that controls your life to this level? I don't.
These are tough choices, but they will have to be addressed at some point. The earth only has a finite number of resources. Only so much food can be grown per acre of land, even with advanced farming methods and genetically engineered crops (this will only delay the problem). The earth can only support a finite amount of people. With population growing exponentially, we will hit the wall eventually. The point is, should we do something before that point? Agent Smith was right in the Matrix when he called humans a virus. Humans have no natural checks on their population, so either we regulate it ourselves or we are in for some very rough times ahead.
Yes, this will be modded as a troll or overrated but the cycle will go on with or w/o us. We are an insignificant part of the history of our planet and although we are intelligent enough to continue to be here I don't think that the earth cares one way or the other. Once that's the opinion of everyone we will be a lot better off.
Your point is 100% correct, yet completely irrelevant. It is true that the Earth could care less what happens to us, it will continue to go on. Life for that matter will continue to go on. If the human race is completely wiped out, life will continue, and maybe in another million years or so another intelligent race will evolve. However, the point is that most people do not want the human race to die out, or for the earth to become an uncomfortable place to live. It is true that the earth has suffered climate changes of this magnitude in the past and has continued on just fine, but the changes were disastrous for the species living at that time. I believe that something like 95% percent of all species which have ever lived are now extinct, most people don't wan humans to join them. It is human nature, indeed the nature of all living things, to be selfish and look after your own best interests. For this reason very few people believe that it is okay to screw up the earth so bad that we cannot live here anymore, even though the earth and life will continue on without us.
The RIAA's recent lawsuits have all been targetted at the people making music available to download via P2P, but surely it's the people that actually download it that are committing the copyright infringement. They are the ones that actually issue the commands that generate the copy after all; where is the additional copy created in the process of sharing a folder in Kazaa or whatever?
You have this exactly backwards. The uploader is the one distributing copies of the media. A copy is made at the uploaders end and is sent down the wire to the downloader. The downloader is merely receiving the copy, he did not create the copy (and couldn't since he doesn't have the original). It makes absolutely no difference if the downloader "initiated the request." So far I have been unable to locate the section of copyright law which forbids receiving copyrighted material, although copying and distribution is quite clearly prohibited. This may be part on the reason no downloaders of copyrighted works have ever been sued. Does anyone know the specific part of law that prohibits downloading?
Either way, it's kind of odd, since money is money....I'd want mine.
Is money still money when it's vouchers you have to buy more stuff to get? From the site: "People and businesses that are covered by the settlement can get vouchers that may be redeemed for cash after buying eligible computer products."
you know, that little niche Operating System that happens to just run on 95% of computers out there...
Not to be pedantic, but that should be 95% of desktop computers. Servers are another story, and since we are talking about a database (not a word processor) the distinction is relevant.
Indeed, natural gas heating is far, far more efficient than electric heat.
Actually, converting electricity into heat is 100% efficient! Of course, what you really mean by efficiency is the total efficiency of the system including electrical generation. Assume your local power plant uses a natural gas turbine to produce electricity (actually, most energy production is still done with coal, but we'll assume natural gas for this). This has an efficiency of at most 40% (can't remember the exact values). After the electricity is generated it must be transmitted to your home, with all the transmission losses associated with this. Finally, the electricity can power your electric heater. Compare this to just burning the natural gas directly, and you can see why a price difference of an order of magnitude between electric and gas heating it not at all unreasonable.
But that's what I want to do with the kernel! I want to change it and sell it as my own. Why can't I do that? Oh yeah, IT'S A LICENSE VIOLATION. A license is a license is a license.
No, it's a COPYRIGHT VIOLATION. Repeating your point over and over doesn't make it any more valid. If you have any more questions try reading Title 17 of the US code.
Wow, this discussion gets more unbefuckinglieveably moronic the farther down I read.
Since your post is farther down than mine, I am forced to agree with you.;)
Please, tell me, exactly how are your fair use rights being violated?
Please, tell me, exactly where did I say that? I said that the removal of DRM ensures your fair use rights. Are you arguing that this is not the case? Besides, fair use is very broadly described. Traditionally the courts have taken a very liberal view of fair use for non-commercial or personal uses, however this is changing. Are you also arguing that playing a digital music file you purchased on an unsupported platform (Linux) does not fall under fair use?
1. The iTunes Music Store - and thus all other worthwhile online music stores that follows - would have *existed* in the first place if it wasn't for *some* DRM capability. Apple's is the most flexible, least intrusive of all other current implementations (other than no DRM at all).
2. Remember, if Apple chose to "fight the good fight" against DRM, we wouldn't have an iTunes Music Store at all. Apple put in the LEAST DRM it could get away with.
This is reminiscent of the great 3/5ths compromise the US's forefathers made when drafting the constitution, i.e. slaves count as 3/5ths of a person for representation purposes. You may agree that the compromise was a good idea and necessary to break a deadlock, yet still be against slavery (or in this case DRM). Do not condem those who wish to ensure their fair use rights just because you feel that Apple made a good compromise.
So I can take the Linux kernel, ignore the license, and do whatever I want with it then?
As a matter of fact, YES YOU CAN (within the limits of copyright law). The GPL places no restrictions on use and does not require that you accept it to use the program. If you want to redistribute it, however, you would be breaking copyright law unless you accept the license. In the case of Apple's DRM, removing the DRM on songs you have purchased is certainly covered under fair use. If you then decide to distribute those DRM-free songs, you are in violation of copyright law. It remains to be seen whether Apple's Term of Service are legally enforable and if they trump fair use, especially since portions are contradictory and Apple enables you to strip the DRM anyway (via CD burning).
If you levitate one on top of the other, the magnets are doing work in the form of a repulsion of the magnet on top (It's tendency will be to fall per gravity's attraction)- they're doing work at a rate sufficient to hold the magnet airborne a given distance.
Wrong, you need to review your physics a bit more. Work is defined as force times distance, W = F * d. Since the levitating magnet is not moving, no work is being performed. A levitating magnet is simply a balance of forces, nothing more. It is exactly the same as putting the magnet on a table (gravity provides a downwards force, the table exerts an equal force upwards).
Here's a link to the more detailed explanation of cooling towers at the site you linked to. The "closed circuit" cooling tower consists of two circuits, one of which is closed, the other which is open and is evaporated to the atmosphere. The open evaporation circuit is what is responsible for the cooling. The "cooling tower" method of cooling relies on evaporating a liquid and exhausting it to atmosphere. The grandparent described a closed system where the working fluid was evaporated then later condensed. This is not a cooling tower design, since there is no open component exhausting to atmosphere. BTW, a simple example of a residential cooling tower type device is an evaporative (or swamp) cooler of the type frequently used in hot, dry locations such as Arizona (where I used to live). It works by blowing air over pads soaked with water. The water evaporates, cooling the air, which is then used to cool the house. In this case the "working fluid" is actually the air, not the water, so it is not a straight cooling tower design, but it is very similar.
You could always do a cooling tower like system. The saphire boils, turns into a gas, and then in the cooling stack condensates back into a liquid.
That is not a cooling tower. A cooling tower works by evaporating a liquid (usually water) to a gas and then just venting this to the atmosphere. It is not a closed system. BTW, this is why cooling towers have visible clouds of steam rising from them on cold days. What you are describing is a simple refrigeration circuit, such as what is used in your fridge or AC unit. The refrigerant is evaporated in the evaporator inside your house, absorbing heat, and condenses back into a liquid in the condenser located outside, giving off heat to the environment.
You are looking for OpenBIOS. It is still in the developement stages and is not ready for prime time yet. Incidently, the developers are planning on using LinuxBIOS code for the initial boot-up sequence. Also, OpenFirmware is not just the BIOS for Macs, it is an IEEE standard and alo used by other vendors such as Sun.
You seem a bit contradictory, you say "if you're doing a simple implementation it isn't hard at all" and then you say you had to consult a forum for help.;) Don't get me wrong, Samba is a great piece of software, but easy it ain't. Have you ever used NFS? A single line in my/etc/exports file, run "/etc/init.d/nfs-kernel-server start" (on Debian) and I've exported my home directory to my LAN! (You should also put a few lines in hosts.allow and hosts.deny for security). I didn't have any problems setting up Samba but it was nowhere near this easy. BTW, it's just anecdotal but it definitely seems that NFS is faster than SMB. Of course, YMMV.
I agree that it was pretty annoying to ge to the actual download. Just make up bogus information, it's not that hard.
Re:But who likes CIFS?
on
Implementing CIFS
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· Score: 4, Informative
Replace it with nfs unix file sharing maybe? Oh I forgot. We're talking about Windows here. God forbid Microsoft should support nfs.
Download Windows Services for UNIX for free from Microsoft, it contains a NFS client and server. I use this on my home network, no more Samba and its confusing config file (even with SWAT it is a nightmare). You can even choose to just install the nfs services and continue to use Cygwin for the rest of your Unix-on-Windows goodness.
Slashdot Mirror
Install mplayer, the win32, quicktime and real codecs, and the Mozilla plugin and everything "just works." Linux still has some problems on the desktop (for instance, I'm still trying to set up automounting for my usb mass storage devices) but media playing is not one of them.
This was a specific statement issued to two people, not a general commandment issued to all of humanty. You also need to take things in context. This statement may be very good advice when given to the only two people on earth, but it is not so good advice applied today.
Yes, but I bet it wasn't too pleasant for the species currently living on the earth during those times.
These are tough choices, but they will have to be addressed at some point. The earth only has a finite number of resources. Only so much food can be grown per acre of land, even with advanced farming methods and genetically engineered crops (this will only delay the problem). The earth can only support a finite amount of people. With population growing exponentially, we will hit the wall eventually. The point is, should we do something before that point? Agent Smith was right in the Matrix when he called humans a virus. Humans have no natural checks on their population, so either we regulate it ourselves or we are in for some very rough times ahead.
Can you please point to the scripture which grants this right, or even indicates that having large number of children is desirable?
Your point is 100% correct, yet completely irrelevant. It is true that the Earth could care less what happens to us, it will continue to go on. Life for that matter will continue to go on. If the human race is completely wiped out, life will continue, and maybe in another million years or so another intelligent race will evolve. However, the point is that most people do not want the human race to die out, or for the earth to become an uncomfortable place to live. It is true that the earth has suffered climate changes of this magnitude in the past and has continued on just fine, but the changes were disastrous for the species living at that time. I believe that something like 95% percent of all species which have ever lived are now extinct, most people don't wan humans to join them. It is human nature, indeed the nature of all living things, to be selfish and look after your own best interests. For this reason very few people believe that it is okay to screw up the earth so bad that we cannot live here anymore, even though the earth and life will continue on without us.
You have this exactly backwards. The uploader is the one distributing copies of the media. A copy is made at the uploaders end and is sent down the wire to the downloader. The downloader is merely receiving the copy, he did not create the copy (and couldn't since he doesn't have the original). It makes absolutely no difference if the downloader "initiated the request." So far I have been unable to locate the section of copyright law which forbids receiving copyrighted material, although copying and distribution is quite clearly prohibited. This may be part on the reason no downloaders of copyrighted works have ever been sued. Does anyone know the specific part of law that prohibits downloading?
Is money still money when it's vouchers you have to buy more stuff to get? From the site: "People and businesses that are covered by the settlement can get vouchers that may be redeemed for cash after buying eligible computer products."
Not to be pedantic, but that should be 95% of desktop computers. Servers are another story, and since we are talking about a database (not a word processor) the distinction is relevant.
Actually, converting electricity into heat is 100% efficient! Of course, what you really mean by efficiency is the total efficiency of the system including electrical generation. Assume your local power plant uses a natural gas turbine to produce electricity (actually, most energy production is still done with coal, but we'll assume natural gas for this). This has an efficiency of at most 40% (can't remember the exact values). After the electricity is generated it must be transmitted to your home, with all the transmission losses associated with this. Finally, the electricity can power your electric heater. Compare this to just burning the natural gas directly, and you can see why a price difference of an order of magnitude between electric and gas heating it not at all unreasonable.
Yet they are often elected into high office.
No, it's a COPYRIGHT VIOLATION. Repeating your point over and over doesn't make it any more valid. If you have any more questions try reading Title 17 of the US code.
Since your post is farther down than mine, I am forced to agree with you. ;)
Please, tell me, exactly how are your fair use rights being violated?
Please, tell me, exactly where did I say that? I said that the removal of DRM ensures your fair use rights. Are you arguing that this is not the case? Besides, fair use is very broadly described. Traditionally the courts have taken a very liberal view of fair use for non-commercial or personal uses, however this is changing. Are you also arguing that playing a digital music file you purchased on an unsupported platform (Linux) does not fall under fair use?
2. Remember, if Apple chose to "fight the good fight" against DRM, we wouldn't have an iTunes Music Store at all. Apple put in the LEAST DRM it could get away with.
This is reminiscent of the great 3/5ths compromise the US's forefathers made when drafting the constitution, i.e. slaves count as 3/5ths of a person for representation purposes. You may agree that the compromise was a good idea and necessary to break a deadlock, yet still be against slavery (or in this case DRM). Do not condem those who wish to ensure their fair use rights just because you feel that Apple made a good compromise.
As a matter of fact, YES YOU CAN (within the limits of copyright law). The GPL places no restrictions on use and does not require that you accept it to use the program. If you want to redistribute it, however, you would be breaking copyright law unless you accept the license. In the case of Apple's DRM, removing the DRM on songs you have purchased is certainly covered under fair use. If you then decide to distribute those DRM-free songs, you are in violation of copyright law. It remains to be seen whether Apple's Term of Service are legally enforable and if they trump fair use, especially since portions are contradictory and Apple enables you to strip the DRM anyway (via CD burning).
Isn't that the reason given on why we aren't allowed to edit posts? Talk about a double standard.
Wrong, you need to review your physics a bit more. Work is defined as force times distance, W = F * d. Since the levitating magnet is not moving, no work is being performed. A levitating magnet is simply a balance of forces, nothing more. It is exactly the same as putting the magnet on a table (gravity provides a downwards force, the table exerts an equal force upwards).
Here's a link to the more detailed explanation of cooling towers at the site you linked to. The "closed circuit" cooling tower consists of two circuits, one of which is closed, the other which is open and is evaporated to the atmosphere. The open evaporation circuit is what is responsible for the cooling. The "cooling tower" method of cooling relies on evaporating a liquid and exhausting it to atmosphere. The grandparent described a closed system where the working fluid was evaporated then later condensed. This is not a cooling tower design, since there is no open component exhausting to atmosphere. BTW, a simple example of a residential cooling tower type device is an evaporative (or swamp) cooler of the type frequently used in hot, dry locations such as Arizona (where I used to live). It works by blowing air over pads soaked with water. The water evaporates, cooling the air, which is then used to cool the house. In this case the "working fluid" is actually the air, not the water, so it is not a straight cooling tower design, but it is very similar.
That is not a cooling tower. A cooling tower works by evaporating a liquid (usually water) to a gas and then just venting this to the atmosphere. It is not a closed system. BTW, this is why cooling towers have visible clouds of steam rising from them on cold days. What you are describing is a simple refrigeration circuit, such as what is used in your fridge or AC unit. The refrigerant is evaporated in the evaporator inside your house, absorbing heat, and condenses back into a liquid in the condenser located outside, giving off heat to the environment.
Ah, I understand you now. My apologies.
That makes no sense. RPM means revolutions per minute. The RPM will be the same at the center and the edge, otherwise your disk is shearing!
You are looking for OpenBIOS. It is still in the developement stages and is not ready for prime time yet. Incidently, the developers are planning on using LinuxBIOS code for the initial boot-up sequence. Also, OpenFirmware is not just the BIOS for Macs, it is an IEEE standard and alo used by other vendors such as Sun.
You seem a bit contradictory, you say "if you're doing a simple implementation it isn't hard at all" and then you say you had to consult a forum for help. ;) Don't get me wrong, Samba is a great piece of software, but easy it ain't. Have you ever used NFS? A single line in my /etc/exports file, run "/etc/init.d/nfs-kernel-server start" (on Debian) and I've exported my home directory to my LAN! (You should also put a few lines in hosts.allow and hosts.deny for security). I didn't have any problems setting up Samba but it was nowhere near this easy. BTW, it's just anecdotal but it definitely seems that NFS is faster than SMB. Of course, YMMV.
I agree that it was pretty annoying to ge to the actual download. Just make up bogus information, it's not that hard.
Download Windows Services for UNIX for free from Microsoft, it contains a NFS client and server. I use this on my home network, no more Samba and its confusing config file (even with SWAT it is a nightmare). You can even choose to just install the nfs services and continue to use Cygwin for the rest of your Unix-on-Windows goodness.