The OPs Intermodal Trains idea doesn't make as much sense as Moving Sidewalks.
In such a future, there wouldn't be any need for personal transportation in our cities or suburbs, only our exurbs and rural areas. Shared electric autos / trucks could be available for any urban transport needs not met by the Moving Sidewalks. The only trains needed would be for transport between cities, and if made fast enough would replace most airline travel, which is the single most abusive misuse of petroleum-based energy.
I'm still looking for the 3.0.4 linux kernel tarballs, etcetera.
The kernel.org front page lists it, but it isn't available through the usual directory tree via HTTP -- 3.0 yes, 3.0.4 no.
And I am one gearhead who actually looks through all the Changelogs.
That said, I'm glad you're (kernel.org) back up on-line, well mostly...;)
"USA supporting a brutal regime..." is far more the norm rather than the exception. In fact, I would go a step further and state that the USA supporting a brutal regime is SOP, and has been so almost since we began our American Exceptionalism "Age of Empire" that started with the Spanish-American War. The USA engaged in the brutal suppression of entire villages in the Philippines to capture|kill a few freedom fighters -- a tactic we learned from the British Empire. A brutal dictator is easier to control than a democracy, right up to the point that that we lose control of the dictator (i.e. Saddam Hussein) or that dictator loses control of the country (i.e. General Pinochet, or the Shah of Iran).
Since the USA fought the fascists in WW2, we have become that enemy of democracy ourselves -- Operations Paperclip, Gladio, Ajax, MK-Ultra, Condor, Northwoods, Mockingbird, COINTELPRO, and more. Between the intelligence agencies formed after WW2 (CIA & NSA) and military programs like School of the Americas, the USA has been the world's premier promulgator of brutal secret police, death squads, and torture the world has ever seen. All this in the name of Empire, also known as colonial mercantilism.
Post 9/11/2001, the USA has directed the 2nd unending war, the War on|of Terror -- the 1st being the War on|of Drugs. Today, those two wars are directed against countries abroad (especially those with oil) as well as against the American people themselves. The chickens (fascism) has come home to roost, in the form of the Orwellian named USA Patriot Act(s), the Help America Vote (Our Way) Act, the FISA|Telecom (Immunity) act, the Military Commissions Act, and a smorgasbord of POTUS Executive Orders, including the power of extrajudicial assassination of USA citizens, extrajudicial stripping of USA citizenship, detention of citizens for indeterminate length without habeous corpus or due process. And now there is legislation pending to cut off the internet here in the USA by the Unitary Executive, just like what was done in Egypt, all in the name of fighting terrorism.
"War is to neither be won nor lost, but to be continuous." George Orwell, from "Nineteen Eighty Four"
Sic semper tyrannis.
I think he meant that there would then be enough IP addresses for everyone, not that every single person would be identified with a specific IPv6 address.
I wouldn't count on that scenario. Every person with a specific IPv6 address, and tied to an implanted RFID chip, along with the end of anything other than electronic funds sound like the New World Order. We are very nearly at that point right now.
I would propose that only those with a valid picture ID can vote.
Driver's License, Military ID, Student ID Card,etc.
Actually, I'd prefer only those who PAY income taxes be allowed to vote in Federal elections.
That's hardly fair. I pay all appropriate State taxes, but I refuse to support our illegal and immoral preemptive overseas military adventures of empire with Federal income taxes. Let's just say that I am following in the giant footsteps of Henry David Thoreau's protest of the Mexican-American War. Besides, voting in Federal elections have almost become moot, ever since the Democrats and Republicans in Congress voted in favor of the "Help America Vote (Our Way) Act of 2002, which funded recount-disabled electronic voting machines everywhere.
...Obama takes a big stick and jams it in the eye of his Progressive supporters.
When will they learn?
You mean the Progressives, or Obama? Obama was never called Martin Luther, he just looks like it and sounds like it. Does it darn good though. The progressives will go to their grave thinking they have a party to vote for, and that it's the Democrats. Sometimes I actually root for the Tea Party wack gang. They're fake and funded my billionaires, but hell, they're the only ones I've seen starting to break a dent into the patterned thinking of the redeblicrats duopoly to-and-fro, swing back-and-forth non-democracy eternal repetitive show.
I am a self-avowed left-wing anarchist, and I am inclined to agree with you. After decades of Democratic & Republican regimes both bent upon the very same consolidation of power into the Federal government and especially into the Executive Branch, it may well take the destructive force of the Tea Party like Samson pulling down the walls of the Temple before some better form of government can be erected. Of course, there is the USA Green Party, but they don't seem to have all that much traction with the citizenry, yet...
Let's be realistic, the problem to be solved is simply the means required by a person to identify themselves for various purposes. So a single electronic card that can be used for all purposes, including identification, licensing for various activities, purchasing and even medical, is reasonable as long as it remains voluntary.
So a person who chooses to, can consolidate their identification requirements. Flip side is to make it more acceptable there would have to be some very severe penalties for privacy invasion based abusing the electronic id cards, forged cards, hacking the cards and even against foreign countries with 'political prostitutes as secretaries of state' abusing those electronic ID cards for espionage purposes.
Of course when you become reliant upon one card for all your needs (identification, licensing, shopping and travel), losing it could be a real nightmare without rapid replacement facilities, really rapid, hours not days. It also seems that treaties between countries will be require covering the breaking of laws by agents of one country in other country, covering penalties for infringement so that electronic ID cards are not abused for illegal espionage purposes.
You would seem to make a compelling case for RFID "chipping" every man, woman and child in the USA -- shame on you... shades of "mark of the beast".
This Internet ID scheme has been floated a couple of times now and it is not going to happen. The Federal Government like big companies and big programs aka Comcast/NBC, Net Control(net neutrality) and National Healthcare. It is about controlling the most people with the least effort. This is no different than requiring me to 'show my papers.' All of this really needs to stop.
--If the feds need something to do they could start by implementing IPv6 and getting everyone an IP address.
In a country that is increasingly being run by crony corporations (fascism), there is hardly any difference between a central government that monitors everyones' on-line identity and one or more private for-profit corporations doing so. The only difference is that those private for-profit corporations will also try to turn everyones' on-line profile into yet another profit stream.
When the Federal government wants to tap into private for-profit corporations' data sets, they already do so. The corporations do this willingly, and often under contract for taxpayer funds, all thanks to the USA Patriot Act(s), the FISA|Telecom Immunity act, and the Military Commissions Act. Former Admiral John Poindexter spun this up under the MATRIX program after TIA drew so much bad press. MATRIX isn't just a movie -- it really is Big Brother.
The only benefit that could derive from the Obama regime making such a program official is (1) simplifying & standardizing the database interfaces to commercial data sets, (2) standardizing the type of data collected, or (3) standardizing the contract fees paid to these corporations. Big Brother is already here, so let's just make their task easier, right?
It isn't as if the USA government is going to adopt European Union standards on privacy, let alone abide by them. Think of the jobs potentially lost by all the drones in the USA alphabet intelligence agencies, plus their sub-contractors. The horror... the horror. The Obama regime is like a shop clerk sent to collect a grocery bill.
You have a point regarding gold, silver, diamonds, and other rare materials holding their value, but only to the extent that such items are in demand. It is possible to envision a time when even these items have lost their intrinsic value. If nobody wants or has a use for these items, then their value goes down. You cannot eat gold, silver, diamonds, or other rare materials, so they might just become as worthless as paper money.
That's why I invest in firearms, ammunition, MREs, and dope. With these items I can barter for what I may need at the time, eat to survive, self-medicate, or use them to otherwise acquire other items I might need, including the currency of the day.
"Dope will get you through times of no money better than money will get you through times of no dope."
-- Freewheelin' Franklin, Furry Freak Brothers Comics, Rip Off Press c.1972
(1) The USA government, or more specifically the USA's intelligence agencies, have for decades opposed any meaningful strong encryption that they might have some difficulty breaking, let alone exporting or re-exporting such encryption. President Clinton's Clipper Chip initiative included the requirement that the keys be sequestered by the government, which destroyed any credibility with businesses or individuals. These requirements, although relaxed somewhat, still exist to this day.
(2) USA and foreign computer manufacturers (hardware and software) are compelled to provide either degraded encryption, or else key sequestration to the USA government if they wish to do business with the USA government -- money talks, and big money talks loudly. Without the ability to easily integrate strong encryption into either the Operating System or the Hardware, the use of encryption is problematic for the generally lazy end-user. The entire USA IT industry has been subverted and corrupted by the USA intelligence agencies. Until such time as strong encryption can be shared across national boundaries without fear of any government's intrusion, this situation will persist.
The syntax is simple. The basic operations are simple. The concept of 2 stacks to work with is simple. There is a core of operands/words (libraries) upon which all else is built. There is free on-line documentation available, as well as free versions that run under DOS, Win32, and Linux. It can also be easily extended later with C language. Even FORTRAN translates into FORTH without much pain.
It a great learning tool for programming, and even if FORTH, along with C and ASM, is all your youngster learns, he or she could have a good future in the embedded programming field.
And why would you PAY for anti-virus software, when
even the big commercial AV vendors cannot protect
against zero-day viruses?
For Mac OS X, check out: ClamXAV
and for other UNIXes try: ClamAV
They are both based upon the same anti-virus scan engine, and both make use of anti-virus definition files which
are updated DAILY (see "daily.cvd" on these websites.
As far as the Mac OS X platform NOT being vulnerable - don't you believe it for one minute! I have a PPC-based Mac, a Ti Powerbook that is running 10.5.5 (as an update from 10.3.9, not installed to a bare disk.) I generally have it "locked down" pretty well, having had made use
of Apple's security guidelines PDFs from their website.
Not very long ago, I visited some "naughty" websites, and my computer "caught" something. I cannot say that it was
a virus or a worm, but it DID catch something. A portion of the display (a rectangular section in the middle of
the screen) went blank, and I found that I could not shut down the laptop, even using the "kill -9" routine as the root account user. Finder had been corrupted (in memory only, praise bob). I resorted to disconnecting power, AND removing the battery, which I left out for nearly 2 hours (to make certain that all its' memory had "zeroed out".
When I replaced the battery, reconnected the power cord, and booted up,, I found that all appeared to be normal.
I immediately downloaded the most recent "daily.cvd"
(see above), and scanned the entire hard disk for
viruses. None were found, and since that time I am confident that "whatever" struck my laptop was only
able to affect program memory.
I also use a free version of "Tripwire", and it could
not find any files that had become corrupted. (This is
not a fast process, I can assure you of that!) I am convinced that I was hit by a virus or worm, and that
I was able to expel it from my computer.
Unfortunately, Apple has done a number of things to
make it far easier for a virus or worm to strike the
Mac platform. Switching to the i386 from the PPC was
okay, except that Apple has been messing with the OS
in bad ways: (1) changing the built-in firewall from
a root-based service to an application, then (2)
including Google verification in Safari without
allowing the user any means of altering or disabling
this feature, AND then (3) beginning to incorporate
Win32 compatibility with the inclusion of.NET libraries.
The Mac OS X platform has not become less vulnerable,
but way more so (IMHO).
Anyone that relies on tape for backup of a RAID array of any modern size (TeraBytes) has got to have A HUGE backup window, as well as (likely) a Tape Jukebox.
Considering what Tape Jukeboxes cost, as well as the tape Media costs, setting up a newer, faster, denser RAID array for backups is far cheaper AND faster. If you think that the MTBF for modern disk drives are problematic, consider the complex mechanical structure of a Tape Jukebox (or ANY jukebox!).
There are two excellent filesystems that handle virtualization and hot on-line backup of RAID array data: SGI's XFS and SUN's ZFS. Between the use of hot standby spares (disks), redundant RAID array controllers, robust filesystems, and off-site backups, there is no reason for Tape Jukeboxes or Tape Backups anymore.
Moore's Law applies better to disk densities (and MTBF) than to tape densities and Jukeboxes: Better / Faster / Cheaper WINS.
Best fuel efficiency at a constant speed may be okay for the gas internal combustion engine, but it is far better for the diesel IC engine, and best with a turbine engine. Since turbine engines are also one of the most expensive and noisiest, it probably wouldn't do well in automobiles. But a diesel, and especially a biodiesel IC engine running at constant RPM is both efficient AND better for the environment. Combined with a plug-in serial hybrid electric drivetrain, and you have a winning combination. There have been many new start-up biodiesel "refineries" that have sprung up in the USA since the latest gas price crunch. They are often located very close to where the vegetable oil is actually grown and produced.
The Bush administration's failure to adopt ultra-low sulfur diesel fuel standards on schedule killed off Volkswagen's TDI auto imports, and delayed Mercedes Benz BlueStreak(?) auto imports. It probably also delayed for a decade the Japanese entrance into the diesel-electric auto market. This technology is the best medium term solution to both peak oil and global warming, at least until battery technology improves to the point of 4-500km range.
The Washington Post reports that those members of Congress that sought to cut funding to VP Cheney, his Executive Office Building offices and staff, as well as the US Naval Observatory (the VP's residence) have been determined by the Sec. of Treasury to be in violation of this Executive Order. Not only have all their USA-based assets been seized, but AG Gonzales has certified that these same Congressmen have been determined to be "enemy combatants". They and their staffs were escorted by the US Secret Service (and augmented by Blackwater Group security personnel) to Andrews AFB, where they were placed on USAF C-130 aircraft whose squadron and unit markings had been covered. An annonymous source was quoted as saying that the aircraft were destined for "Central Europe", rather than Guantanemo Bay, Cuba. The White House spokesperson, Tony Snow, briefly stated that there would be no press conference on this matter, but that the President of the Senate would be making a public address from the podium of the Senate Chambers at 10:00 PM. Television coverage by CSPAN-2 is expected...
I am in a region "serviced" by Verizon, and I have formed the opinion that Verizon management are all the devil's spawn. I keep getting direct (to me) mailed advertising for Verizon's DSL service, which isn't even offered in my area. (The local CO is not even equipped for the DSLAM equipment, the CO is too far from my residence for even ADSL service, and at the rate that Verizon is rolling out FttN(eighborhood) OR FttP(remesis), I should be able to directly mind-meld my brain to the Internet as another option.)
Thanks, Verizon! (and thanks, State Corporation Commission that cut these SOBs such a big break, competition-wise.
At $500, the PS3-60GB is still far too expensive, especially since you have been recurring dick-heads about DRM, viri, root-kits, and a f*cking virtualized interface to linux (for PS3).
When I can buy 2 (two) PS3-60GB for that $500, then maybe I'll change my mind. Who knows, by that time you might actually have some games that a worth a good goddamn.
that as the '094' -class submarines come on-line, that the DPRK (Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea) gets "first dibs" on the "soon-to-be obsolete" '092' -class? With a heavily discounted price, no doubt, since DPRK IS the Peoples Republic of China's subservient client state. And then, whatever '092' -class subs are left over will be sold to Pakistan, or traded to Iran for oil contracts.
Wow! There's something to really look forward to - a new 'cold war' that can go, instantly, hot. Guess it's time to get back to work on the underground bunker in the backyard. I sure as shit hope that the disbursal of '092' -class subs doesn't happen on GW Bush's watch, 'cause that would turn WW-III (and expectation of "The Rapture") into a near certainty.
Gee willikers, Microsoft: so sorry about that (but you are so bound) !
Turn about is fair play, as far as I am concerned. I didn't purchare Win2K under License 6. Why should I now be subject to your change in license only because I needed a Service Pack to fix your crappy software?
If there was truely justice in this world, Microsoft would have been broken up into at least 5 different pieces (operating units) at the end of the DOJ anti-trust trial. It was GWBush's "free enterprise, but only for the really big companies ^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H contributors" rise to power that saved your "800 pound gorilla".
Not to quibble, but... when DHS was being organized, a number of IT security experts went public to try to avert an IT security nightmare. They were rebuffed, and the DHS went ahead and spent over $6 Billion on Microsoft OSes and Apps. I cannot say how much more $$$ that DHS has spent with Microsoft since then.
AFAI can tell, DHS is THE Imperial Oxymoron. Their idea of border security is getting people to volunteer all their pertinent info, and volunteer to respect that invisible line in the SW USA desert. Their idea of seaport security is to let someone else, like the foreign shipper, provide the security. The "war on terror" is going just about as well as the "war on drugs", the "war in Afghanistan", and the "war in Iraq". And with all the noises the Bush administration's aggprop (propaganda from the "Ministry of Truth"), we are getting ready to start yet another war in the Middle East, in Iran.
The establishment (feds/state/local governments and MSM) does not trust armed citizens. Most politicians also do not trust armed constituents. Besides Constitutional issues (2nd Amendment), Western civilization historically has deemed an individual's right to self-defense an inherent right. When the government (any) takes away that right to self-defense, they bear the burdeon of responsibility for their citizens well-being. Repeatedly, government has fallen far short of their responsibility for protecting citizens. Contract armed mercenaries (Blackwater Group) used deadly force to disarm citizens of New Orleans after the Katrina Hurricane. The court system has repeatedly denied citizens from suing local governments that not only disarm their citizens, but then fail in their obligation to protect these same citizens from harm.
Virginia Tech/Blacksburg is in a rural area where local/regional students routinely engage in hunting during the season. VT / Blacksburg has a rifle range, and there are several additional target ranges within a 30 minute drive (on National/ State Forest property. There is no good reason why students and faculty who can demonstrate both good citizenship and good familiarity with handling of firearms should not be permitted to be armed on campus. In point of fact, Virginia has a concealed carry program that vettes individuals for this right-to-carry and licenses them.
This tragic incident should never have happened. The extent of the tragedy was preventable. I do not expect that either the government, MSM, the politicians, or the university will learn the correct (but not politically correct) lesson.
That's right - we cannot "elect" George W. Bush more than twice.
However, I am of the opinion that he was never elected by/for/of the people for the first time in 2000. And while I do so hate to borrow trouble, the BushCo regime floated some "trial balloons" through the FEC (Federal Election Commission) in mid-2004 about the possibility of postponing the November elections if there should be a new domestic terrorist threat/strike. The BushCo regime and their neo-con allies in Congress passed a little known rider on last Fall's military funding act which makes it far, far easier for him to declare martial law and postpone the 2008 elections.
He also has (at least) two weasely slimebag brothers involved in politics & war profiteering -- Marvin, who's a neo-con lobbyist, and Jeb, who was the recent two- term governor of Florida.
Somehow, I think that the pain and suffering of the American people is not over when it comes to the Bush Crime Family.
This posting reminds me about a revolutionary new file compression scheme (c. 1994) that could reduce a 2 MB MS Word document down to 25kB, or a 2 MB TIFF file down to 40kB. There was a huge buzz in the local & national press, with much speculation as to what the inventor's company would eventually be valued at at IPO. The big D (demonstration) day arrived, and the software could, indeed, compress these files down to amazingly small sizes.
(Okay, okay. There IS a punch-line... )
Reporters on the scene asked the inventor to, pretty please, decompress the sample files back to their original state.
So sorry! That compression software must be some kind of one-way hash, or (perhaps) a bit-bucket from hell. I doubt if the public embassassment of that "inventor" went away before his 15 minutes of fame.
Slashdot Mirror
The OPs Intermodal Trains idea doesn't make as much sense as Moving Sidewalks. In such a future, there wouldn't be any need for personal transportation in our cities or suburbs, only our exurbs and rural areas. Shared electric autos / trucks could be available for any urban transport needs not met by the Moving Sidewalks. The only trains needed would be for transport between cities, and if made fast enough would replace most airline travel, which is the single most abusive misuse of petroleum-based energy.
I'm still looking for the 3.0.4 linux kernel tarballs, etcetera. The kernel.org front page lists it, but it isn't available through the usual directory tree via HTTP -- 3.0 yes, 3.0.4 no. And I am one gearhead who actually looks through all the Changelogs. That said, I'm glad you're (kernel.org) back up on-line, well mostly ... ;)
"USA supporting a brutal regime ..." is far more the norm rather than the exception. In fact, I would go a step further and state that the USA supporting a brutal regime is SOP, and has been so almost since we began our American Exceptionalism "Age of Empire" that started with the Spanish-American War. The USA engaged in the brutal suppression of entire villages in the Philippines to capture|kill a few freedom fighters -- a tactic we learned from the British Empire. A brutal dictator is easier to control than a democracy, right up to the point that that we lose control of the dictator (i.e. Saddam Hussein) or that dictator loses control of the country (i.e. General Pinochet, or the Shah of Iran).
Since the USA fought the fascists in WW2, we have become that enemy of democracy ourselves -- Operations Paperclip, Gladio, Ajax, MK-Ultra, Condor, Northwoods, Mockingbird, COINTELPRO, and more. Between the intelligence agencies formed after WW2 (CIA & NSA) and military programs like School of the Americas, the USA has been the world's premier promulgator of brutal secret police, death squads, and torture the world has ever seen. All this in the name of Empire, also known as colonial mercantilism.
Post 9/11/2001, the USA has directed the 2nd unending war, the War on|of Terror -- the 1st being the War on|of Drugs. Today, those two wars are directed against countries abroad (especially those with oil) as well as against the American people themselves. The chickens (fascism) has come home to roost, in the form of the Orwellian named USA Patriot Act(s), the Help America Vote (Our Way) Act, the FISA|Telecom (Immunity) act, the Military Commissions Act, and a smorgasbord of POTUS Executive Orders, including the power of extrajudicial assassination of USA citizens, extrajudicial stripping of USA citizenship, detention of citizens for indeterminate length without habeous corpus or due process. And now there is legislation pending to cut off the internet here in the USA by the Unitary Executive, just like what was done in Egypt, all in the name of fighting terrorism.
"War is to neither be won nor lost, but to be continuous." George Orwell, from "Nineteen Eighty Four"
Sic semper tyrannis.
I think he meant that there would then be enough IP addresses for everyone, not that every single person would be identified with a specific IPv6 address.
I wouldn't count on that scenario. Every person with a specific IPv6 address, and tied to an implanted RFID chip, along with the end of anything other than electronic funds sound like the New World Order. We are very nearly at that point right now.
It would suck majorly if the feds had everyones IP address!
It's not as if the USA's alphabet intel agencies don't already have the databases and the computers that access them necessary for an IPv6 data set.
I would propose that only those with a valid picture ID can vote.
Driver's License, Military ID, Student ID Card,etc.
Actually, I'd prefer only those who PAY income taxes be allowed to vote in Federal elections.
That's hardly fair. I pay all appropriate State taxes, but I refuse to support our illegal and immoral preemptive overseas military adventures of empire with Federal income taxes. Let's just say that I am following in the giant footsteps of Henry David Thoreau's protest of the Mexican-American War. Besides, voting in Federal elections have almost become moot, ever since the Democrats and Republicans in Congress voted in favor of the "Help America Vote (Our Way) Act of 2002, which funded recount-disabled electronic voting machines everywhere.
...Obama takes a big stick and jams it in the eye of his Progressive supporters.
When will they learn?
You mean the Progressives, or Obama? Obama was never called Martin Luther, he just looks like it and sounds like it. Does it darn good though. The progressives will go to their grave thinking they have a party to vote for, and that it's the Democrats. Sometimes I actually root for the Tea Party wack gang. They're fake and funded my billionaires, but hell, they're the only ones I've seen starting to break a dent into the patterned thinking of the redeblicrats duopoly to-and-fro, swing back-and-forth non-democracy eternal repetitive show.
I am a self-avowed left-wing anarchist, and I am inclined to agree with you. After decades of Democratic & Republican regimes both bent upon the very same consolidation of power into the Federal government and especially into the Executive Branch, it may well take the destructive force of the Tea Party like Samson pulling down the walls of the Temple before some better form of government can be erected. Of course, there is the USA Green Party, but they don't seem to have all that much traction with the citizenry, yet ...
Let's be realistic, the problem to be solved is simply the means required by a person to identify themselves for various purposes. So a single electronic card that can be used for all purposes, including identification, licensing for various activities, purchasing and even medical, is reasonable as long as it remains voluntary.
So a person who chooses to, can consolidate their identification requirements. Flip side is to make it more acceptable there would have to be some very severe penalties for privacy invasion based abusing the electronic id cards, forged cards, hacking the cards and even against foreign countries with 'political prostitutes as secretaries of state' abusing those electronic ID cards for espionage purposes.
Of course when you become reliant upon one card for all your needs (identification, licensing, shopping and travel), losing it could be a real nightmare without rapid replacement facilities, really rapid, hours not days. It also seems that treaties between countries will be require covering the breaking of laws by agents of one country in other country, covering penalties for infringement so that electronic ID cards are not abused for illegal espionage purposes.
You would seem to make a compelling case for RFID "chipping" every man, woman and child in the USA -- shame on you ... shades of "mark of the beast".
This Internet ID scheme has been floated a couple of times now and it is not going to happen. The Federal Government like big companies and big programs aka Comcast/NBC, Net Control(net neutrality) and National Healthcare. It is about controlling the most people with the least effort. This is no different than requiring me to 'show my papers.' All of this really needs to stop. --If the feds need something to do they could start by implementing IPv6 and getting everyone an IP address.
In a country that is increasingly being run by crony corporations (fascism), there is hardly any difference between a central government that monitors everyones' on-line identity and one or more private for-profit corporations doing so. The only difference is that those private for-profit corporations will also try to turn everyones' on-line profile into yet another profit stream. When the Federal government wants to tap into private for-profit corporations' data sets, they already do so. The corporations do this willingly, and often under contract for taxpayer funds, all thanks to the USA Patriot Act(s), the FISA|Telecom Immunity act, and the Military Commissions Act. Former Admiral John Poindexter spun this up under the MATRIX program after TIA drew so much bad press. MATRIX isn't just a movie -- it really is Big Brother. The only benefit that could derive from the Obama regime making such a program official is (1) simplifying & standardizing the database interfaces to commercial data sets, (2) standardizing the type of data collected, or (3) standardizing the contract fees paid to these corporations. Big Brother is already here, so let's just make their task easier, right? It isn't as if the USA government is going to adopt European Union standards on privacy, let alone abide by them. Think of the jobs potentially lost by all the drones in the USA alphabet intelligence agencies, plus their sub-contractors. The horror ... the horror. The Obama regime is like a shop clerk sent to collect a grocery bill.
Yes, well thank goodness that FORTH is still dead, just like BSD, eh?
You have a point regarding gold, silver, diamonds, and other rare materials holding their value, but only to the extent that such items are in demand. It is possible to envision a time when even these items have lost their intrinsic value. If nobody wants or has a use for these items, then their value goes down. You cannot eat gold, silver, diamonds, or other rare materials, so they might just become as worthless as paper money. That's why I invest in firearms, ammunition, MREs, and dope. With these items I can barter for what I may need at the time, eat to survive, self-medicate, or use them to otherwise acquire other items I might need, including the currency of the day. "Dope will get you through times of no money better than money will get you through times of no dope." -- Freewheelin' Franklin, Furry Freak Brothers Comics, Rip Off Press c.1972
(1) The USA government, or more specifically the USA's intelligence agencies, have for decades opposed any meaningful strong encryption that they might have some difficulty breaking, let alone exporting or re-exporting such encryption. President Clinton's Clipper Chip initiative included the requirement that the keys be sequestered by the government, which destroyed any credibility with businesses or individuals. These requirements, although relaxed somewhat, still exist to this day. (2) USA and foreign computer manufacturers (hardware and software) are compelled to provide either degraded encryption, or else key sequestration to the USA government if they wish to do business with the USA government -- money talks, and big money talks loudly. Without the ability to easily integrate strong encryption into either the Operating System or the Hardware, the use of encryption is problematic for the generally lazy end-user. The entire USA IT industry has been subverted and corrupted by the USA intelligence agencies. Until such time as strong encryption can be shared across national boundaries without fear of any government's intrusion, this situation will persist.
The syntax is simple. The basic operations are simple. The concept of 2 stacks to work with is simple. There is a core of operands/words (libraries) upon which all else is built. There is free on-line documentation available, as well as free versions that run under DOS, Win32, and Linux. It can also be easily extended later with C language. Even FORTRAN translates into FORTH without much pain. It a great learning tool for programming, and even if FORTH, along with C and ASM, is all your youngster learns, he or she could have a good future in the embedded programming field.
And why would you PAY for anti-virus software, when even the big commercial AV vendors cannot protect against zero-day viruses? For Mac OS X, check out: ClamXAV and for other UNIXes try: ClamAV They are both based upon the same anti-virus scan engine, and both make use of anti-virus definition files which are updated DAILY (see "daily.cvd" on these websites. As far as the Mac OS X platform NOT being vulnerable - don't you believe it for one minute! I have a PPC-based Mac, a Ti Powerbook that is running 10.5.5 (as an update from 10.3.9, not installed to a bare disk.) I generally have it "locked down" pretty well, having had made use of Apple's security guidelines PDFs from their website. Not very long ago, I visited some "naughty" websites, and my computer "caught" something. I cannot say that it was a virus or a worm, but it DID catch something. A portion of the display (a rectangular section in the middle of the screen) went blank, and I found that I could not shut down the laptop, even using the "kill -9" routine as the root account user. Finder had been corrupted (in memory only, praise bob). I resorted to disconnecting power, AND removing the battery, which I left out for nearly 2 hours (to make certain that all its' memory had "zeroed out". When I replaced the battery, reconnected the power cord, and booted up,, I found that all appeared to be normal. I immediately downloaded the most recent "daily.cvd" (see above), and scanned the entire hard disk for viruses. None were found, and since that time I am confident that "whatever" struck my laptop was only able to affect program memory. I also use a free version of "Tripwire", and it could not find any files that had become corrupted. (This is not a fast process, I can assure you of that!) I am convinced that I was hit by a virus or worm, and that I was able to expel it from my computer. Unfortunately, Apple has done a number of things to make it far easier for a virus or worm to strike the Mac platform. Switching to the i386 from the PPC was okay, except that Apple has been messing with the OS in bad ways: (1) changing the built-in firewall from a root-based service to an application, then (2) including Google verification in Safari without allowing the user any means of altering or disabling this feature, AND then (3) beginning to incorporate Win32 compatibility with the inclusion of .NET libraries.
The Mac OS X platform has not become less vulnerable,
but way more so (IMHO).
Anyone that relies on tape for backup of a RAID array of any modern size (TeraBytes) has got to have A HUGE backup window, as well as (likely) a Tape Jukebox. Considering what Tape Jukeboxes cost, as well as the tape Media costs, setting up a newer, faster, denser RAID array for backups is far cheaper AND faster. If you think that the MTBF for modern disk drives are problematic, consider the complex mechanical structure of a Tape Jukebox (or ANY jukebox!). There are two excellent filesystems that handle virtualization and hot on-line backup of RAID array data: SGI's XFS and SUN's ZFS. Between the use of hot standby spares (disks), redundant RAID array controllers, robust filesystems, and off-site backups, there is no reason for Tape Jukeboxes or Tape Backups anymore. Moore's Law applies better to disk densities (and MTBF) than to tape densities and Jukeboxes: Better / Faster / Cheaper WINS.
Best fuel efficiency at a constant speed may be okay for the gas internal combustion engine, but it is far better for the diesel IC engine, and best with a turbine engine. Since turbine engines are also one of the most expensive and noisiest, it probably wouldn't do well in automobiles. But a diesel, and especially a biodiesel IC engine running at constant RPM is both efficient AND better for the environment. Combined with a plug-in serial hybrid electric drivetrain, and you have a winning combination. There have been many new start-up biodiesel "refineries" that have sprung up in the USA since the latest gas price crunch. They are often located very close to where the vegetable oil is actually grown and produced. The Bush administration's failure to adopt ultra-low sulfur diesel fuel standards on schedule killed off Volkswagen's TDI auto imports, and delayed Mercedes Benz BlueStreak(?) auto imports. It probably also delayed for a decade the Japanese entrance into the diesel-electric auto market. This technology is the best medium term solution to both peak oil and global warming, at least until battery technology improves to the point of 4-500km range.
In other news today:
...
The Washington Post reports that those members of Congress that sought to cut funding
to VP Cheney, his Executive Office Building offices and staff, as well as the US Naval
Observatory (the VP's residence) have been determined by the Sec. of Treasury to be in
violation of this Executive Order. Not only have all their USA-based assets been seized, but
AG Gonzales has certified that these same Congressmen have been determined to be "enemy
combatants". They and their staffs were escorted by the US Secret Service (and augmented by
Blackwater Group security personnel) to Andrews AFB, where they were placed on USAF C-130
aircraft whose squadron and unit markings had been covered. An annonymous source was
quoted as saying that the aircraft were destined for "Central Europe", rather than Guantanemo
Bay, Cuba. The White House spokesperson, Tony Snow, briefly stated that there would be no
press conference on this matter, but that the President of the Senate would be making a public
address from the podium of the Senate Chambers at 10:00 PM. Television coverage by CSPAN-2
is expected
Well, lucky you.
I am in a region "serviced" by Verizon, and I have formed the opinion that
Verizon management are all the devil's spawn. I keep getting direct (to me)
mailed advertising for Verizon's DSL service, which isn't even offered in my
area. (The local CO is not even equipped for the DSLAM equipment, the CO
is too far from my residence for even ADSL service, and at the rate that
Verizon is rolling out FttN(eighborhood) OR FttP(remesis), I should be able
to directly mind-meld my brain to the Internet as another option.)
Thanks, Verizon! (and thanks, State Corporation Commission that cut these
SOBs such a big break, competition-wise.
Thanks, Sony, but no thanks.
At $500, the PS3-60GB is still far too expensive, especially since you have been recurring
dick-heads about DRM, viri, root-kits, and a f*cking virtualized interface to linux (for PS3).
When I can buy 2 (two) PS3-60GB for that $500, then maybe I'll change my mind. Who knows,
by that time you might actually have some games that a worth a good goddamn.
that as the '094' -class submarines come on-line, that the DPRK (Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea)
gets "first dibs" on the "soon-to-be obsolete" '092' -class? With a heavily discounted price, no doubt,
since DPRK IS the Peoples Republic of China's subservient client state. And then, whatever '092' -class
subs are left over will be sold to Pakistan, or traded to Iran for oil contracts.
Wow! There's something to really look forward to - a new 'cold war' that can go, instantly, hot.
Guess it's time to get back to work on the underground bunker in the backyard. I sure as shit hope that
the disbursal of '092' -class subs doesn't happen on GW Bush's watch, 'cause that would turn WW-III (and
expectation of "The Rapture") into a near certainty.
Gee willikers, Microsoft: so sorry about that (but you are so bound) !
Turn about is fair play, as far as I am concerned. I didn't purchare
Win2K under License 6. Why should I now be subject to your change
in license only because I needed a Service Pack to fix your crappy
software?
If there was truely justice in this world, Microsoft would have been
broken up into at least 5 different pieces (operating units) at the
end of the DOJ anti-trust trial. It was GWBush's "free enterprise,
but only for the really big companies ^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H
contributors" rise to power that saved your "800 pound gorilla".
Not to quibble, but ... when DHS was being organized, a number of IT security experts went public to try to
avert an IT security nightmare. They were rebuffed, and the DHS went ahead and spent over $6 Billion on
Microsoft OSes and Apps. I cannot say how much more $$$ that DHS has spent with Microsoft since then.
AFAI can tell, DHS is THE Imperial Oxymoron. Their idea of border security is getting people to volunteer
all their pertinent info, and volunteer to respect that invisible line in the SW USA desert. Their idea of seaport
security is to let someone else, like the foreign shipper, provide the security. The "war on terror" is going just
about as well as the "war on drugs", the "war in Afghanistan", and the "war in Iraq". And with all the noises the
Bush administration's aggprop (propaganda from the "Ministry of Truth"), we are getting ready to start yet
another war in the Middle East, in Iran.
The establishment (feds/state/local governments and MSM) does not trust armed citizens. Most politicians also
do not trust armed constituents. Besides Constitutional issues (2nd Amendment), Western civilization historically
has deemed an individual's right to self-defense an inherent right. When the government (any) takes away that
right to self-defense, they bear the burdeon of responsibility for their citizens well-being. Repeatedly, government
has fallen far short of their responsibility for protecting citizens. Contract armed mercenaries (Blackwater Group) used
deadly force to disarm citizens of New Orleans after the Katrina Hurricane. The court system has repeatedly denied
citizens from suing local governments that not only disarm their citizens, but then fail in their obligation to protect
these same citizens from harm.
Virginia Tech/Blacksburg is in a rural area where local/regional students routinely engage in hunting during the season.
VT / Blacksburg has a rifle range, and there are several additional target ranges within a 30 minute drive (on National/
State Forest property. There is no good reason why students and faculty who can demonstrate both good citizenship
and good familiarity with handling of firearms should not be permitted to be armed on campus. In point of fact, Virginia
has a concealed carry program that vettes individuals for this right-to-carry and licenses them.
This tragic incident should never have happened. The extent of the tragedy was preventable. I do not expect that either
the government, MSM, the politicians, or the university will learn the correct (but not politically correct) lesson.
That's right - we cannot "elect" George W. Bush more than twice.
However, I am of the opinion that he was never elected by/for/of the people
for the first time in 2000. And while I do so hate to borrow trouble, the BushCo
regime floated some "trial balloons" through the FEC (Federal Election Commission)
in mid-2004 about the possibility of postponing the November elections if there
should be a new domestic terrorist threat/strike. The BushCo regime and their
neo-con allies in Congress passed a little known rider on last Fall's military funding
act which makes it far, far easier for him to declare martial law and postpone the
2008 elections.
He also has (at least) two weasely slimebag brothers involved in politics & war
profiteering -- Marvin, who's a neo-con lobbyist, and Jeb, who was the recent two-
term governor of Florida.
Somehow, I think that the pain and suffering of the American people is not over
when it comes to the Bush Crime Family.
This posting reminds me about a revolutionary new file compression scheme (c. 1994) that could reduce a 2 MB MS Word
... )
document down to 25kB, or a 2 MB TIFF file down to 40kB. There was a huge buzz in the local & national press, with
much speculation as to what the inventor's company would eventually be valued at at IPO. The big D (demonstration)
day arrived, and the software could, indeed, compress these files down to amazingly small sizes.
(Okay, okay. There IS a punch-line
Reporters on the scene asked the inventor to, pretty please, decompress the sample files back to their original state.
So sorry! That compression software must be some kind of one-way hash, or (perhaps) a bit-bucket from hell. I doubt
if the public embassassment of that "inventor" went away before his 15 minutes of fame.