The real agenda is not to filter illegal IP, but to filter comments like this one that are critical of AT&T. They want to destroy our ability to express ourselves. They want to block information about their blocking information.
Those of you who think the government is there to help you, and not to mindlessly harass you deserve this. You can not take AA batteries on airplanes with special "security" procedures.
After NAZI Germany, and Communism in the Soviet Union, I would have thought you would have learned. Ohh well.
At this point, anyone not working to overthrow this government deserves not only this, but a short drop a the end of a rope as well.
The biggest problem will be the DMCA & other unconstitutional copyright laws - in 100 years, it will be illegal for even the movie companies to access their "own" movies.
THE ONLY REASON TO COPY A MOVIE IS PIRACY!
This entire conversation is illegal under the DMCA!
I've got some experience with this...I've been building a multi-terabyte library for over a decade now...the goal is a tablet computer that could teach someone to rebuild civilization.
Let's assume they want to make certain the data is available, and not in an unusable format...that would mean using a few (very) standard formats. I would have lost my data if I had kept it in the latest, slickest formats. I deal with.TXT,.RTF,.PDF, &.DJVU for text files. I keep all audio in.MP3 format. Any original encoding is OK, but there must be a copy in 16KB/s, 16bits/sample, fixed sample size encoding - in stereo. Given that 99% is talk, that's OK. 8KB/s, 8 bits/sample, mmono are common, but do not play on ALL MP3 players. 16/16/stereo will play on all MP3 players.
For movies, the codecs are a nightmare, so resample every frame into the best.TIFF you can get, and test the heck out of it on 100 random PCs and software packages. NOT THE PCs THAT MOVIE EXECS USE! Grab 100 off eBay and see how many support each of 5 image formats, then tweak the settings in PhotoShop when you save the files to see how to improve the reliability.
For media, storing it all in one vault is stupid. Google figured out that you need to have 3 coppies in different locations. RAID is for idiots who want to loose data. One disk per file, and no exceptions. Use only standard file systems, and test them on the 100 PCs that we mentioned earlier. I can still plug in an early HDD, and use it in a modern system.
Accessing the data regularly will discover defects before they destroy all your data. Then again, I think Hollywood' main purpose is to prevent people from watching their movies...so why would they ever want to access it?
> You want to stay away from any proprietary > technology (why? you shouldn't have to ask...)
> That pretty much immediately rules out the > Kindle, and any thing Sony has ever made... >(also, anything that requires books be in.lit > format - microsoft reader, I'm looking at you!)
I thought the same thing about the Sony PRS-505, until I tried one. (This is coming from someone with a HATRED OF SONY.) It actually will work as an open-format reader. You can almost ignore that it's from Sony.
It has all standard connectors on it, does not require Sony s/w to work, doubles as a card reader, and reads PDF, TXT, RTF, MP3, AAC, JPG, GIF, PNG, & BMP files. There are converters for many others (including.DJVU,.LIT, etc.)
OTOH, the battery life is falsely advertised by Sony, it slows to a crawl whenever it feels like it, and it is unable to find some files.
Still, it's what I picked, mainly because it was the most open one I could find to play with pre-purchase.
> Because they make powerful, lightweight laptops with very pretty screens. > > They also make great TVs that not only perform well but are finished > and styled well too.
I tried one of those Laptops, a VAIO. The AC adapter plug that plugs into the laptop broke. The replacement was $300. I asked about just the connector, which was $295. I said I'd buy one and go into production selling copies (I can injection mold plastic) and then I find out the @#%^ thing is patented. After some research, it seems that Sony had tried to get many connectors patented, but they were all too close to pre-existing designs, or they were obvious. So, Sony came up with something that nobody in their right mind would produce. That way, they could patent it. (Nobody contested the usefulness of this patent...I'll have to save up $2k.)
So, I've got a Sony Vaio brick, and I don't trust Sony's warranties any more.
To sum up, you are a damn liar. Sony does not make laptops, they make proprietary bricks.
> It only has one of Shakespear's works - a Midsummer Night's Dream - in addition to a few > biographies and translations. Seems like a pretty big omission.
I found "Hamlet"; several versions by searching for "Hamlet."
How did you search?
What do you consider a copy of one of Shakespeare's works? (I like modern English versions.)
> Original groundbreaking technical literature is often very difficult to understand. > The author struggles to describe the new concepts. Many years later, other authors > can simplify explanations and remove dead ends and needless excursions into side > cases. Authors with skill at being authors instead of being researchers can choose > more understandable language.
Actually, the person who popularizes the concept has to be a very good teacher. Netwon was not the first to write abotu integral and differential calculus, but he was the first to make a convincing case for it. Only good teachers and good authors can get ideas accepted by the main stream.
By contrast, the dumbed down crap that is thrown around our classrooms is an embarassment. It has to be different from any of the 1500 good explanations privously penned, so it is different for the sake of IP laws, not because it's better.
If you want a good explanation, go to the original source who convinced everyone else.
It is impossible for Microsoft's lies about VISTA to have mislead anyone - we remember their past lies so well, that anyone using their software gets exactly what they deserve.
Many USB Hard Drives come with backup software that can back up several PCs, or keep several copies of a single PC. My local Fry's had a Maxtor 750 gig Triple-Touch system for $179. The down side is wiping a HDD to see if the backup worked.
I use Symantec Ghost, Linux commands, or EZ Gig 2 to clone disks from internal drives through an eSATA connector to an SATA drive in an external case. Then, I tell my BIOS to boot from that SATA channel to test the backup. BINGO! I've even considered only using an external HDD to keep backups simple (you want to pull the first HDD if running W*ndowze before booting the backup.) Figure $50 for an eSATA enclosure, and a (very small) cheap HDD. Figure $100 for a 500 gig drive.
For a NAS unit with backup software, I got my LaCie Big Disk 1TB drive, and I'm disappointed. The USB drivers mount it as a network drive. I expected a USB mass storage device. The USB drivers even flake out on an XP SP2 machine periodically, requiring power cycling. The USB interface is ONLY for administering the IP address, it seems.
Andy Out!
Improvement on cooling pad thingy
on
Lap Desks
·
· Score: 0
I had a student bring me a "Targus" cooling pad thingy for his laptop. It had 2 traditional case-style fans, with one side open to a grill (under the laptop) and the other side enclosed in plastic. They were supposed to pull air from the sides and push it up under the laptop. That's one of the most inefficient uses of fans I've ever seen! Targus should be ashamed. A single small squirrel cage blower in the center would do a better job of moving air.
I'm thinking about designing my own replacement.
My student (Robert) suggested a USB hub should be built into the cooling pad thingy, since it runs off USB power most of the time.
It occurred to me that USB devices drain batteries quickly. For example, using a USB 2.5" HDD on my old Fujitsu Stylistic Tablet PC cuts the battery time from 90 to 30 minutes. So, why not add a battery for the USB hub? If it took AAs, we could use rechargeable batteries, or one-time-use batteries (think delays at an airport.) Also, with removable batteries, you can keep the weight to a few ounces while still allowing a big battery when you want it.
Given the standard bays on the bottom of many laptops, a bay to take a removable DVD drive or HDD would be nice, but it might move us from cooling pad thingy to docking station.
The USA has allowed big corporations to target their enemies with phony DMCA take-down notices since 1998. Why should it surprise us that Russia is copying us? I'm shocked it took the guys in Red Square so long adopt Orin Hatch's tactics.
The bottom line is this: the police attacked an innocent person. It happens every day. If you didn't want this to happen, you would have elected Ron Paul in 1984, 1988, 1992, 1996, 2000, or 2004. 2008 may be your last chance.
This is not victory for those of us who operate in the Free World!
SCO was only a pawn of the BSA, Microsoft, & Steve Balmer. Microsoft illegally pumped millions into SCO to create FUD about Linux. The slander that SCO engaged in on the orders of Microsoft has done trillions of dollars in damage to everyone in the free world.
With SCO's delisting, we can say that after losing many key pieces, we are in a good position to maybe take one of Microsoft's pawns.
This is not a victory!
A victory would be Microsoft delisted, Microsoft's assets seized, and Steve Balmer in prison for life without parole for racketeering.
Until the BSA member companies are all gone, along with everyone else who has ever attacked FOSS software as illegal, we are at war. This is a war of extermination. The BSA, together with its' member companies, and all their employees and stock holders and investors continue to claim that FOSS software is illegal. The only way we, in the Free World, can exist is to exterminate the BSA together with its' member companies, and all their employees and stock holders and investors.
Here are some hints on how to proceed:
1. Almost all EULAs are illegal since, when read, they are clearly "unconscionable contracts."
2. Anyone who says anything negative and blatantly false about FOSS (e.g., that the GPL is unenforceable) has slandered everyone in the Free World. Use small claims court to go after them, and have 5 friends do the same.
3. Hit their stock holders & employees.
4. Question the continued employment of anyone who agrees to a license agreement that say Microsoft can view, edit, or delete anything they want to on your employer's computer.
Any bookstore who claims that ISBN numbers are their IP needs to be thrown in jail for stupidity.
Having said that, any business has a right to do business (or not) with anyone they want. They can throw someone out for not buying something if they want.
The school should tell you who is teaching the class, and the teacher should tell you the books you will need. Better yet, the school should keep a list of books for classes.
Actually, since Islam teaches that all of us who refuse to practice their religion must be enslaved or killed, and since Islam teaches that anyone who makes fun of that genocidal, child-rapist of a false prophet must be killed...Islam is not a religion. A religion is a group of ideas about God that encourages people to help each other. Islam is a cult. Cults have a view of God that encourages them to hurt other people.
The genocidal nut who posted this story should be punished.
Libertarianism rewards thought. (See the 1st chapter of Ayn Rand's "Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal") We computer geeks think, and are used to being rewarded for thinking.
In a libertarian system leaves you nobody to whine to. Try whining in a libertarian system, and you get about as much sympathy as if you call tech support. (i.e., None.)
Libertarian systems reward work, just like the process of learning to code rewards work.
Libertarian systems leave innovation to the masses. Given what the free market has done for PC speeds, we trust in corporate innovation, and in the little guy with a nuclear reactor in his garage.
Libertarian systems do away with limits on what you can do that are imposed by the government. No govt V-chip, no govt DRM, do govt Carnivore (email snooping.) I hate being told I can not do something. I don't mind paying a few bucks, but I don't want to be told "No!" That's the main reason Linux is so popular. If Micro$oft would ever get a f***ing clue and let me dial into Windows Update, pay $89 to letimize my copy of Windows, and then pay $25 to get all the networking tools from their latest Server OS, and pay another $150 to get rid of the DRM, I'd go with WIndows. They don't. They tell me I can not do what I need to do, so I put up with the absurdity of recompiling my OS kernel because at least I am not told "You may not!" Instead, I'm told "I hope you are smart enough & hard working enough."
Libertarian systems don't limit things that are seen as "weird" (like spending more time during your teenage years in front of a PC than with computer-illiterate friends.
As a teacher, I see this kind of sillyness happen once in a while...It's usually corrected quickly.
We used to hear about the students who took typing, home-ec, and homemaking to have a better chance at keeping all "A"s rather than trying to take calculus. The system fixed that by giving extra grade points for tougher classes.
I recall when students were discouraged from taking AP exams if they only had a 75% chance of passing, because the school got bonuses when more than 95% of the students taking the exams passed. These exams gave college credit to those who passed. I took a few AP classes in high school, but was told not to take the exams for college credit because I was failing spanish, even if my grades in the AP classes were high. (Mrs. Green's History class, 1993, Martin HS, Arlington, TX)
This will be corrected. There is one comodity that no school system has ever been short on - doo-gooding-beurocrats! There are probably a million of them flocking to the halls of the aussie parliment to correct this as we speak.
Thank God they will protect our children from reading comments that are critical of Congress.
This reminds me of when Theresa Kerry (then Theresa Heinz) got Congress to crack down on TV stations that showed a show called "Sledge Hammer." In this paradoy of Dirty Harry, our hero breaks up the world's most powerful and most corrupt organized crime family, and is shows dragging out the suit-clad gangsters. The sign on their door reads "House Ways & Means Committee" She got John Kerry to stomp on that under the guise of protecting our children from senseless violence on TV.
They will keep taking away our freedoms until we follow the bard's advice: "The first thing we do is..."
They will keep taking away our freedoms until we take Gen. W. T. Sherman's attitude: "I saw a good politican once..."
Andy Out!
P.S. At least spell my name correctly on the next sedition indictment!
Moore's law is currently threatened by the huge capital investments it takes to go to smaller lithographic techniques. We're talking billions of dollars (actually, the equivalent in Yuan) to gamble that a new fab will produce.
Currently, only the price demanded by high-end processors, RAM, etc. can justify that kind of expenditure.
When you go down to the store and spend $400 on RAM, $100 on a high-end keychain drive, or $350 on a processor, you are funding the R&D.
There just is not as much of a business case for building newer fabs to produce $10 processors with intergrated everything for $100 laptops.
So, will the $100 laptop craze kill off the next generation of fabs? Answer: Only if it kills off the desire to buy newer & faster PCs. With SSDs becoming standard, I see a market for flash memory for quite a while. With people throwing around claims of double-digit numbers of cores, it doesn't seem like anyone is going to stop producing new processors any time soon.
That's amazingly similar to my library. I've been collecting data - military manuals, text books, etc...for about a decade. I've got most of a TB, and these new $269 + $8 S/H (1 TB) NAS / USB drives are amazingly useful. I keep one in a padded ammo can, except when I need to use it, and 2 friends each have a backup copy. When the govt bans all data, I'll still be able to educate children in everything from the classics & calculus to hacking microcontrollers & at-home plastic injection molding to shaped charges & bayonet techniques.
So some guys are running a legitimate business...selling Creative Commons licensed / GPLed coppies. Or they were selling legitimate commercial coppies but do not adhere to the RIAA / MPAA / BSA price fixing scheme. Then the STASI come to take them away for being politicall incorrect.
Thgere's one option: shoot back. It's too late to work within the system.
Slashdot Mirror
The real agenda is not to filter illegal IP, but to filter comments like this one that are critical of AT&T. They want to destroy our ability to express ourselves. They want to block information about their blocking information.
Andy
If you're still delaing with the mafiAA, stop reading /.
Go away.
We don't want you here.
Bye! Don't let the HTTP REQ hit you in the @$$ on the way out.
Those of you who think the government is there to help you, and not to mindlessly harass you deserve this. You can not take AA batteries on airplanes with special "security" procedures.
After NAZI Germany, and Communism in the Soviet Union, I would have thought you would have learned. Ohh well.
At this point, anyone not working to overthrow this government deserves not only this, but a short drop a the end of a rope as well.
Andy
The biggest problem will be the DMCA & other unconstitutional copyright laws - in 100 years, it will be illegal for even the movie companies to access their "own" movies.
THE ONLY REASON TO COPY A MOVIE IS PIRACY!
This entire conversation is illegal under the DMCA!
Andy Out!
I will no longer deal with Apple
Andy Allen
Please add your pledge for a liftime bouycott here:
I've got some experience with this...I've been building a multi-terabyte library for over a decade now...the goal is a tablet computer that could teach someone to rebuild civilization.
.TXT, .RTF, .PDF, & .DJVU for text files. I keep all audio in .MP3 format. Any original encoding is OK, but there must be a copy in 16KB/s, 16bits/sample, fixed sample size encoding - in stereo. Given that 99% is talk, that's OK. 8KB/s, 8 bits/sample, mmono are common, but do not play on ALL MP3 players. 16/16/stereo will play on all MP3 players.
.TIFF you can get, and test the heck out of it on 100 random PCs and software packages. NOT THE PCs THAT MOVIE EXECS USE! Grab 100 off eBay and see how many support each of 5 image formats, then tweak the settings in PhotoShop when you save the files to see how to improve the reliability.
Let's assume they want to make certain the data is available, and not in an unusable format...that would mean using a few (very) standard formats. I would have lost my data if I had kept it in the latest, slickest formats. I deal with
For movies, the codecs are a nightmare, so resample every frame into the best
For media, storing it all in one vault is stupid. Google figured out that you need to have 3 coppies in different locations. RAID is for idiots who want to loose data. One disk per file, and no exceptions. Use only standard file systems, and test them on the 100 PCs that we mentioned earlier. I can still plug in an early HDD, and use it in a modern system.
Accessing the data regularly will discover defects before they destroy all your data. Then again, I think Hollywood' main purpose is to prevent people from watching their movies...so why would they ever want to access it?
I'll stop wating my time here...Bye.
Andy Out!
> You want to stay away from any proprietary
.lit
.DJVU, .LIT, etc.)
> technology (why? you shouldn't have to ask...)
> That pretty much immediately rules out the
> Kindle, and any thing Sony has ever made...
>(also, anything that requires books be in
> format - microsoft reader, I'm looking at you!)
I thought the same thing about the Sony PRS-505, until I tried one. (This is coming from someone with a HATRED OF SONY.) It actually will work as an open-format reader. You can almost ignore that it's from Sony.
Check out the Wiki page at MobileRead.com that I edited: http://wiki.mobileread.com/wiki/PRS505
It has all standard connectors on it, does not require Sony s/w to work, doubles as a card reader, and reads PDF, TXT, RTF, MP3, AAC, JPG, GIF, PNG, & BMP files. There are converters for many others (including
OTOH, the battery life is falsely advertised by Sony, it slows to a crawl whenever it feels like it, and it is unable to find some files.
Still, it's what I picked, mainly because it was the most open one I could find to play with pre-purchase.
Andy
> Because they make powerful, lightweight laptops with very pretty screens.
>
> They also make great TVs that not only perform well but are finished
> and styled well too.
I tried one of those Laptops, a VAIO. The AC adapter plug that plugs into the laptop broke. The replacement was $300. I asked about just the connector, which was $295. I said I'd buy one and go into production selling copies (I can injection mold plastic) and then I find out the @#%^ thing is patented. After some research, it seems that Sony had tried to get many connectors patented, but they were all too close to pre-existing designs, or they were obvious. So, Sony came up with something that nobody in their right mind would produce. That way, they could patent it. (Nobody contested the usefulness of this patent...I'll have to save up $2k.)
So, I've got a Sony Vaio brick, and I don't trust Sony's warranties any more.
To sum up, you are a damn liar. Sony does not make laptops, they make proprietary bricks.
Andy Out!
> It only has one of Shakespear's works - a Midsummer Night's Dream - in addition to a few
> biographies and translations. Seems like a pretty big omission.
I found "Hamlet"; several versions by searching for "Hamlet."
How did you search?
What do you consider a copy of one of Shakespeare's works? (I like modern English versions.)
Andy Out!
> Original groundbreaking technical literature is often very difficult to understand.
> The author struggles to describe the new concepts. Many years later, other authors
> can simplify explanations and remove dead ends and needless excursions into side
> cases. Authors with skill at being authors instead of being researchers can choose
> more understandable language.
Actually, the person who popularizes the concept has to be a very good teacher. Netwon was not the first to write abotu integral and differential calculus, but he was the first to make a convincing case for it. Only good teachers and good authors can get ideas accepted by the main stream.
By contrast, the dumbed down crap that is thrown around our classrooms is an embarassment. It has to be different from any of the 1500 good explanations privously penned, so it is different for the sake of IP laws, not because it's better.
If you want a good explanation, go to the original source who convinced everyone else.
Andy Out!
It is impossible for Microsoft's lies about VISTA to have mislead anyone - we remember their past lies so well, that anyone using their software gets exactly what they deserve.
Andy Out!
Many USB Hard Drives come with backup software that can back up several PCs, or keep several copies of a single PC. My local Fry's had a Maxtor 750 gig Triple-Touch system for $179. The down side is wiping a HDD to see if the backup worked.
I use Symantec Ghost, Linux commands, or EZ Gig 2 to clone disks from internal drives through an eSATA connector to an SATA drive in an external case. Then, I tell my BIOS to boot from that SATA channel to test the backup. BINGO! I've even considered only using an external HDD to keep backups simple (you want to pull the first HDD if running W*ndowze before booting the backup.) Figure $50 for an eSATA enclosure, and a (very small) cheap HDD. Figure $100 for a 500 gig drive.
For a NAS unit with backup software, I got my LaCie Big Disk 1TB drive, and I'm disappointed. The USB drivers mount it as a network drive. I expected a USB mass storage device. The USB drivers even flake out on an XP SP2 machine periodically, requiring power cycling. The USB interface is ONLY for administering the IP address, it seems.
Andy Out!
I had a student bring me a "Targus" cooling pad thingy for his laptop. It had 2 traditional case-style fans, with one side open to a grill (under the laptop) and the other side enclosed in plastic. They were supposed to pull air from the sides and push it up under the laptop. That's one of the most inefficient uses of fans I've ever seen! Targus should be ashamed. A single small squirrel cage blower in the center would do a better job of moving air.
I'm thinking about designing my own replacement.
My student (Robert) suggested a USB hub should be built into the cooling pad thingy, since it runs off USB power most of the time.
It occurred to me that USB devices drain batteries quickly. For example, using a USB 2.5" HDD on my old Fujitsu Stylistic Tablet PC cuts the battery time from 90 to 30 minutes. So, why not add a battery for the USB hub? If it took AAs, we could use rechargeable batteries, or one-time-use batteries (think delays at an airport.) Also, with removable batteries, you can keep the weight to a few ounces while still allowing a big battery when you want it.
Given the standard bays on the bottom of many laptops, a bay to take a removable DVD drive or HDD would be nice, but it might move us from cooling pad thingy to docking station.
The USA has allowed big corporations to target their enemies with phony DMCA take-down notices since 1998. Why should it surprise us that Russia is copying us? I'm shocked it took the guys in Red Square so long adopt Orin Hatch's tactics.
Andy Out!
This is slander against everyone of us who develops open source software.
Does anyone know the name & address of Microsoft's legal representative in Texas?
Andy Out!
The bottom line is this: the police attacked an innocent person. It happens every day. If you didn't want this to happen, you would have elected Ron Paul in 1984, 1988, 1992, 1996, 2000, or 2004. 2008 may be your last chance.
Andy Out!
This is not victory for those of us who operate in the Free World!
SCO was only a pawn of the BSA, Microsoft, & Steve Balmer. Microsoft illegally pumped millions into SCO to create FUD about Linux. The slander that SCO engaged in on the orders of Microsoft has done trillions of dollars in damage to everyone in the free world.
With SCO's delisting, we can say that after losing many key pieces, we are in a good position to maybe take one of Microsoft's pawns.
This is not a victory!
A victory would be Microsoft delisted, Microsoft's assets seized, and Steve Balmer in prison for life without parole for racketeering.
Until the BSA member companies are all gone, along with everyone else who has ever attacked FOSS software as illegal, we are at war. This is a war of extermination. The BSA, together with its' member companies, and all their employees and stock holders and investors continue to claim that FOSS software is illegal. The only way we, in the Free World, can exist is to exterminate the BSA together with its' member companies, and all their employees and stock holders and investors.
Here are some hints on how to proceed:
1. Almost all EULAs are illegal since, when read, they are clearly "unconscionable contracts."
2. Anyone who says anything negative and blatantly false about FOSS (e.g., that the GPL is unenforceable) has slandered everyone in the Free World. Use small claims court to go after them, and have 5 friends do the same.
3. Hit their stock holders & employees.
4. Question the continued employment of anyone who agrees to a license agreement that say Microsoft can view, edit, or delete anything they want to on your employer's computer.
Andy Out!
Any bookstore who claims that ISBN numbers are their IP needs to be thrown in jail for stupidity.
Having said that, any business has a right to do business (or not) with anyone they want. They can throw someone out for not buying something if they want.
The school should tell you who is teaching the class, and the teacher should tell you the books you will need. Better yet, the school should keep a list of books for classes.
Andy Out!
Actually, since Islam teaches that all of us who refuse to practice their religion must be enslaved or killed, and since Islam teaches that anyone who makes fun of that genocidal, child-rapist of a false prophet must be killed...Islam is not a religion. A religion is a group of ideas about God that encourages people to help each other. Islam is a cult. Cults have a view of God that encourages them to hurt other people.
The genocidal nut who posted this story should be punished.
Andy Out!
Libertarianism rewards thought. (See the 1st chapter of Ayn Rand's "Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal") We computer geeks think, and are used to being rewarded for thinking.
In a libertarian system leaves you nobody to whine to. Try whining in a libertarian system, and you get about as much sympathy as if you call tech support. (i.e., None.)
Libertarian systems reward work, just like the process of learning to code rewards work.
Libertarian systems leave innovation to the masses. Given what the free market has done for PC speeds, we trust in corporate innovation, and in the little guy with a nuclear reactor in his garage.
Libertarian systems do away with limits on what you can do that are imposed by the government. No govt V-chip, no govt DRM, do govt Carnivore (email snooping.) I hate being told I can not do something. I don't mind paying a few bucks, but I don't want to be told "No!" That's the main reason Linux is so popular. If Micro$oft would ever get a f***ing clue and let me dial into Windows Update, pay $89 to letimize my copy of Windows, and then pay $25 to get all the networking tools from their latest Server OS, and pay another $150 to get rid of the DRM, I'd go with WIndows. They don't. They tell me I can not do what I need to do, so I put up with the absurdity of recompiling my OS kernel because at least I am not told "You may not!" Instead, I'm told "I hope you are smart enough & hard working enough."
Libertarian systems don't limit things that are seen as "weird" (like spending more time during your teenage years in front of a PC than with computer-illiterate friends.
Andy Out!
As a teacher, I see this kind of sillyness happen once in a while...It's usually corrected quickly.
We used to hear about the students who took typing, home-ec, and homemaking to have a better chance at keeping all "A"s rather than trying to take calculus. The system fixed that by giving extra grade points for tougher classes.
I recall when students were discouraged from taking AP exams if they only had a 75% chance of passing, because the school got bonuses when more than 95% of the students taking the exams passed. These exams gave college credit to those who passed. I took a few AP classes in high school, but was told not to take the exams for college credit because I was failing spanish, even if my grades in the AP classes were high. (Mrs. Green's History class, 1993, Martin HS, Arlington, TX)
This will be corrected. There is one comodity that no school system has ever been short on - doo-gooding-beurocrats! There are probably a million of them flocking to the halls of the aussie parliment to correct this as we speak.
Andy Out!
Thank God they will protect our children from reading comments that are critical of Congress.
This reminds me of when Theresa Kerry (then Theresa Heinz) got Congress to crack down on TV stations that showed a show called "Sledge Hammer." In this paradoy of Dirty Harry, our hero breaks up the world's most powerful and most corrupt organized crime family, and is shows dragging out the suit-clad gangsters. The sign on their door reads "House Ways & Means Committee" She got John Kerry to stomp on that under the guise of protecting our children from senseless violence on TV.
They will keep taking away our freedoms until we follow the bard's advice: "The first thing we do is..."
They will keep taking away our freedoms until we take Gen. W. T. Sherman's attitude: "I saw a good politican once..."
Andy Out!
P.S. At least spell my name correctly on the next sedition indictment!
Moore's law is currently threatened by the huge capital investments it takes to go to smaller lithographic techniques. We're talking billions of dollars (actually, the equivalent in Yuan) to gamble that a new fab will produce.
Currently, only the price demanded by high-end processors, RAM, etc. can justify that kind of expenditure.
When you go down to the store and spend $400 on RAM, $100 on a high-end keychain drive, or $350 on a processor, you are funding the R&D.
There just is not as much of a business case for building newer fabs to produce $10 processors with intergrated everything for $100 laptops.
So, will the $100 laptop craze kill off the next generation of fabs? Answer: Only if it kills off the desire to buy newer & faster PCs. With SSDs becoming standard, I see a market for flash memory for quite a while. With people throwing around claims of double-digit numbers of cores, it doesn't seem like anyone is going to stop producing new processors any time soon.
Andy Out!
That's amazingly similar to my library. I've been collecting data - military manuals, text books, etc...for about a decade. I've got most of a TB, and these new $269 + $8 S/H (1 TB) NAS / USB drives are amazingly useful. I keep one in a padded ammo can, except when I need to use it, and 2 friends each have a backup copy. When the govt bans all data, I'll still be able to educate children in everything from the classics & calculus to hacking microcontrollers & at-home plastic injection molding to shaped charges & bayonet techniques.
Andy Out!
So some guys are running a legitimate business...selling Creative Commons licensed / GPLed coppies. Or they were selling legitimate commercial coppies but do not adhere to the RIAA / MPAA / BSA price fixing scheme. Then the STASI come to take them away for being politicall incorrect.
Thgere's one option: shoot back. It's too late to work within the system.
Andy Out!