This is assuming each system is randomly selected from the sample, but they were mostly sending him refurbished units back, which presumably had a defect in the first place, to have been sent back for refurbishment. It's still quite improbable, sure, but not so much as your math makes out, perhaps.
Arizona functions well without DST because it's pretty far south, and the length of days doesn't change too much.
For those of us further north, DST is helpful, because having the sun rise at 4am and set at 8pm is wasteful, as most people don't start their days until much after 4, and their evenings certainly don't end at 8.
There was an interesting article in Slate a while ago arguing that it's not DST that should go, but time zones altogether.
It's not a double standard. It's about the Forces of Good against the Forces of Evil. Justice must be served, in the grand scheme, even if the copyrights held by Evil need to be trampled. Copyrights held by Good, however, are sacred.
That actually happens a lot, where the "wrong move" turns out to be better than the "right move" due to dumb luck.
In a couple weeks, in Toronto, they're having a "Human vs Computer Showdown" as part of the Toronto Scrabble Open. During the tournament, human players will play Quackle and Maven, and the winner of the human tournament will play whichever of the two computer programs has the better record in a best-of-five final.
In Scrabble, what happens is that at a certain level, it transcends "making words" and becomes more like chess, with the give and take with your opponent across a board. Since the letters you get are random, is has that poker element of having to "play the odds" in hopes of not getting stuck in a bad situation, or lucking out and finding yourself in a good one. And each game is a set of completely new situations, since there are so many combinations possible. It's actually quite thrilling.
I believe that when challenged, a player should have to provide a definition, _and_ it should be present in a universally accepted dictionary (e.g. Oxford Shorter, not words marked archaic etc.)
This wouldn't accomplish much, aside from making people memorize long lists of definitions along with long lists of words.
The Scrabble dictionary already is a list of words found in one of several universally accepted dictionaries. That's how it was created.
The Official Scrabble Player's Dictionary is a compilation of all (acceptable*) words found in any edition of about ten or so different college (abridged) dictionaries. It's not a list of abritrary strings -- quite the opposite actually.
*acceptable = not upper cased, not italicized (ie foreign), not an abbreviation (that is, there's no period at the end, and it has a pronounciation, part of speech, etc). Slang and jive are okay, etc.
Actually it took place at the Lexington Scrabble Club, and there were about 30 other people there to witness the game. I guess by the end there was a pretty big crowd watching.
PDF, flash, and java applets are the worst file formats ever inflicted on the web...
Hold it! Yes, I'll agree, PDFs on the Web can be annoying overkill, but the real usefulness of PDFs is that they are portable. I have a document, I can email it or FTP it or network-share it to any user on any platform and it will look exactly the same. This is possible with HTML, but annoying to have to email a.zip file with all the images that need to be displayed, and no guarantee that a different browser won't muck up the display.
Long term, this would put the LDCs at an even worse disadvantage. They would still be using less efficient and (by the time supply of fossil fuels runs down) more expensive technology, and the developed nations would still be ahead, but with new technology. I still don't see the disadvantage.
Spirit...it could survive being flung across the cold vacuum of interplanetary space, but it couldn't survive even one hit from the Illudium Q36 Space Modulator. Sigh.
Is the reason the BIOS has been essentially unchanged for so long, because Intel (and others) wanted to keep binary compatability between versions? AFAIK (which isn't very far), the latest P4 chips are binary-compatible all the way back to the 8088. Wouldn't re-writing the BIOS at this stage break that compatability?
I'm not saying that such a move would necessarily be bad; I'm just curious.
This is the huge problem -- corporations do not have a right to a profit. They have the right to do business and attempt to make a profit. If they are unsuccessful, well, losing money != violation of rights.
So often these days, corporate profits go down, and some Congressman thinks, oh, they're losing money -- someone must be breaking the law! Uh, no. Maybe if the music industry had a product worth paying for, people would buy it. (You know, that whole "capitalism" thing...)
The GPL only forces source distribution to those that the binaries were distributed to. Under your scenario, a company could only provide source to those that buy the software, but restrict those that receive the source from redistributing it via EULA or some other rider contract. However, this contradicts the terms of the GPL. The GPL expressly forbids placing such terms on redistribution of GPL software.
Agreed. But Red Hat isn't doing this.
If such restrictive rider agreements are allowed, then compliance with the GPL is entirely optional. But this essentially nullifies the GPL. The whole point of the GPL is that restrictions on redistribution of source and binaries are not an option.
I agree here, too. If the alternate download were taken away, you'd be selling the package saying, this is GPL...but all those rights don't apply here. That's not the GPL at all.
However, what Red Hat is doing is saying, if you want support, then these are the restrictions. If you don't want support, the restrictions don't apply and that's ok. What you're doing is expecting Red Hat to give its support away for free, or not support at all. That's not mandated by anyone's reading of the GPL.
Suppose I have a version of Linux, Green Shoe Linux, and you run out to the store to buy it, and bring it home. You're about to unwrap the box when you spy the dreaded shrink-wrap EULA:
Opening this box indicates relinquishment of every right granted to you under the GPL. If you copy, modify, or redistribute this product with the express written consent of Green Shoe Linux Inc, we will sue your pants off, and that won't be pretty, Tubby.
So you return the box and download the SRPMs (with no restrictions) from greenshoe.com. I'm out $1500 and you can make copies for all your friends. If a nasty bug in my code causes your computer to burst into flames, I won't help, but that's your choice. What's the problem here?
The GPL is essentially a copyright agreement. It gives you freedom to copy, modify, redistribute, etc., all the nice things that regular copyright law forbids. It also mandates that this freedom cannot be taken away from anyone to whom you distribute the software. If you get RHEL for one server, and you install it on 100, then you are not violating copyright laws. You can use the product however you want. The service contract is a separate agreement. RH says, "If you agree to only install this on one server, we'll support you." Legally, you can take them up on the offer or not. Whether you do it or not is your choice.
Just because you aren't allowed to back out of a contract you agreed to doesn't mean your freedoms guaranteed by the GPL are being taken away.
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This is assuming each system is randomly selected from the sample, but they were mostly sending him refurbished units back, which presumably had a defect in the first place, to have been sent back for refurbishment. It's still quite improbable, sure, but not so much as your math makes out, perhaps.
Arizona functions well without DST because it's pretty far south, and the length of days doesn't change too much.
For those of us further north, DST is helpful, because having the sun rise at 4am and set at 8pm is wasteful, as most people don't start their days until much after 4, and their evenings certainly don't end at 8.
There was an interesting article in Slate a while ago arguing that it's not DST that should go, but time zones altogether.
...although the fact that I play competitively makes me biased.
It's not a double standard. It's about the Forces of Good against the Forces of Evil. Justice must be served, in the grand scheme, even if the copyrights held by Evil need to be trampled. Copyrights held by Good, however, are sacred.
That actually happens a lot, where the "wrong move" turns out to be better than the "right move" due to dumb luck.
In a couple weeks, in Toronto, they're having a "Human vs Computer Showdown" as part of the Toronto Scrabble Open. During the tournament, human players will play Quackle and Maven, and the winner of the human tournament will play whichever of the two computer programs has the better record in a best-of-five final.
In Scrabble, what happens is that at a certain level, it transcends "making words" and becomes more like chess, with the give and take with your opponent across a board. Since the letters you get are random, is has that poker element of having to "play the odds" in hopes of not getting stuck in a bad situation, or lucking out and finding yourself in a good one. And each game is a set of completely new situations, since there are so many combinations possible. It's actually quite thrilling.
I believe that when challenged, a player should have to provide a definition, _and_ it should be present in a universally accepted dictionary (e.g. Oxford Shorter, not words marked archaic etc.)
This wouldn't accomplish much, aside from making people memorize long lists of definitions along with long lists of words.
The Scrabble dictionary already is a list of words found in one of several universally accepted dictionaries. That's how it was created.
The Official Scrabble Player's Dictionary is a compilation of all (acceptable*) words found in any edition of about ten or so different college (abridged) dictionaries. It's not a list of abritrary strings -- quite the opposite actually. *acceptable = not upper cased, not italicized (ie foreign), not an abbreviation (that is, there's no period at the end, and it has a pronounciation, part of speech, etc). Slang and jive are okay, etc.
Actually it took place at the Lexington Scrabble Club, and there were about 30 other people there to witness the game. I guess by the end there was a pretty big crowd watching.
PDF, flash, and java applets are the worst file formats ever inflicted on the web...
Hold it! Yes, I'll agree, PDFs on the Web can be annoying overkill, but the real usefulness of PDFs is that they are portable. I have a document, I can email it or FTP it or network-share it to any user on any platform and it will look exactly the same. This is possible with HTML, but annoying to have to email a .zip file with all the images that need to be displayed, and no guarantee that a different browser won't muck up the display.
XP: Winamp, WMP
Linux: XMMS/MPlayer (DVD's sometimes an issue)
Try Xine for playing video. It's great.
While Mozart was born in the same year that Bach died... Quick fact-check FYI: JS Bach: 1685-1750 WA Mozart: 1756-1791
Long term, this would put the LDCs at an even worse disadvantage. They would still be using less efficient and (by the time supply of fossil fuels runs down) more expensive technology, and the developed nations would still be ahead, but with new technology. I still don't see the disadvantage.
The point of Kyoto was to cripple industrialized economies so that lesser developed nations could compete more effectively.
Um, no. I highly doubt Kyoto's intention was to cripple industrial development. Push it in a new direction perhaps.
I'll never understand why so many people equate "the way things are" with "the only way things can be."
MyDoom H
I've just got a worm named MyDoom H
And suddenly this game
Will never play the same for me.
MyDoom I
I just saw a worm named MyDoom I
And suddenly I see
A blue screen staring back at me!
MyDoom J!
I don't hear any mp3s playing
All is dark and I better start praying
MyDoom K,
I just got a worm named MyDoom K...
Spirit...it could survive being flung across the cold vacuum of interplanetary space, but it couldn't survive even one hit from the Illudium Q36 Space Modulator. Sigh.
I'm using Linux in Rome, NY. So's my roommate.
We also have lots of Italians here, too.
I don't think you can make that judgement yet. Just because they got a C&D doesn't really mean they're wrong. That's for a court to decide.
I need the fastest computer possible. I helps me feel better about my personal shortcomings.
Please correct or enlighten me on this.
Is the reason the BIOS has been essentially unchanged for so long, because Intel (and others) wanted to keep binary compatability between versions? AFAIK (which isn't very far), the latest P4 chips are binary-compatible all the way back to the 8088. Wouldn't re-writing the BIOS at this stage break that compatability?
I'm not saying that such a move would necessarily be bad; I'm just curious.
This is the huge problem -- corporations do not have a right to a profit. They have the right to do business and attempt to make a profit. If they are unsuccessful, well, losing money != violation of rights.
So often these days, corporate profits go down, and some Congressman thinks, oh, they're losing money -- someone must be breaking the law! Uh, no. Maybe if the music industry had a product worth paying for, people would buy it. (You know, that whole "capitalism" thing...)
Technically, a ratio of 0:0 isn't balanced -- it's undefined, since you're dividing by zero.
Agreed. But Red Hat isn't doing this.
I agree here, too. If the alternate download were taken away, you'd be selling the package saying, this is GPL...but all those rights don't apply here. That's not the GPL at all.
However, what Red Hat is doing is saying, if you want support, then these are the restrictions. If you don't want support, the restrictions don't apply and that's ok. What you're doing is expecting Red Hat to give its support away for free, or not support at all. That's not mandated by anyone's reading of the GPL.
Suppose I have a version of Linux, Green Shoe Linux, and you run out to the store to buy it, and bring it home. You're about to unwrap the box when you spy the dreaded shrink-wrap EULA:
So you return the box and download the SRPMs (with no restrictions) from greenshoe.com. I'm out $1500 and you can make copies for all your friends. If a nasty bug in my code causes your computer to burst into flames, I won't help, but that's your choice. What's the problem here?
The GPL is essentially a copyright agreement. It gives you freedom to copy, modify, redistribute, etc., all the nice things that regular copyright law forbids. It also mandates that this freedom cannot be taken away from anyone to whom you distribute the software. If you get RHEL for one server, and you install it on 100, then you are not violating copyright laws. You can use the product however you want. The service contract is a separate agreement. RH says, "If you agree to only install this on one server, we'll support you." Legally, you can take them up on the offer or not. Whether you do it or not is your choice.
Just because you aren't allowed to back out of a contract you agreed to doesn't mean your freedoms guaranteed by the GPL are being taken away.