I don't get it.
Haven't seen video flickers or "rub outs" on my Ubuntu for at least 3 years... on different hardware.
Is there something I should be aware/wary of?
Now, normal humidity in a room would be around 40-50%.
Run this machine and quickly you get air that is too dry to be healthy, so this is apparently for use outdoors. Still the question is about the environment you can run this in efficiently:
From TFA:
The mill ceases to be effective below about 30 per cent relative humidity levels, which are common later in the day in states such as Arizona. To combat that problem, the machine has an intelligent computer built into it that increases its output at dawn when humidity is highest, and reduces it from mid-afternoon when a blazing sun dries the air.
While I am basically the same kind of guy (self taught - going to college for a degree atm after 15+ years in the field), I would say that a lot of problems with IT solutions, especially software development, are precisely due to:
}}} Now, how many people get into IT through "non standard" channels? How many self-taught pros are there out there?
Union is an overkill and union-only hiring would be a nightmare. HOWEVER, some sort of professional standard that is as well known as eg. medical school for doctors, would be nice. Now what we have is all sorts of certificates in all kinds of specific fields. Some sort of general voluntary "test of aptitude" would be a nice thing.
Just for the record, after Ossetians were shelling Georgian towns for quite some time, trying to provoke Georgians.
There is information circulating - in Russian, so I doubt it is of any use to quote here - Russian radiostation Echo Moskvi interviews - that Russia was preparing for the war for quite some time and trying to edge Georgia towards doing something that could lead to invasion.
At any rate, the probable truth is this:
- there have been tensions between Ossetian region and Georgia for quite some time, blood feuds and what not;
- it is conceivable that Georgian behaviour towards Ossetian inhabitants where they had power was as bad as Ossetian towards Georgian. This could be related to the old grudges when Georgians had to flee Ossetian territories earlier.
[You know a good old blood feud when you hear about atrocities commited from both sides and nobody can make neither head nor tail of it.]
- Georgian current president has been pro-West oriented, and plans were underway for making an oil pipeline through Georgia that would bypass Russia.
So, essentially what we have here seems to be Russia trying to prevent Georgia from supplying West with oil by egging on old feuds in the region.
As regards support for Ossetian independence - it is probably a good move. One can only wonder why did Russia went to war TWICE with Chechnya recently, in order to PREVENT their independence though.
Arthur Clarke has been behind numerous perceptions and ideas that are commonplace nowadays.
For example, he is the author of the widely quoted "Sufficiently advanced science is indistinguishable from magic".
As well, he was able to pretty accurately imagine an astounding number of technological advances.
A loosely re-translated quote from a Russian magazine "Esli"(If), regarding Clarke's 90th birthday: "By the way, in the early works of Clarke there is an enormous amount of bold technical predictions, many of which have been realized - or they have every chance to be realized in near future. In the very same "Childhood's End", which is more of a religious-philosophic rather than futurological work, there is the determination of the baby's gender during pregnancy (very similar to nowaday DNA testing), contraception pills, document sending over phone lines with a device which is even named "facsimile device". Among the catalogue of technological predictions it is easy to miss a direct hit on social predictions -- Clarke assumes that socialism as a political order will be extinct by 22th century."
When asked about his future career, Sweeney indicated intention of opening a beauty parlour chain near the main offices of major PC manufacturers: - They certainly deserve the best, - he said. - And my hands are itching for work.
I wonder if anyone outside the US actually even knows Yahoo much anymore (I understand now that inside the US it is still used - like yandex in Russia, I was told).
Around 10 years ago you knew Yahoo, if you wanted web-based e-mail, groups/mailing lists. Now I haven't been on yahoo site for more than 5 years, and neither does anybody who I knew used it back then.
I don't know if TFA includes anything about membrane keyboards (can't access the site for some reason), but the most horrible keyboard I remember was that of Soviet Elektronika BK-0010 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elektronika_BK - a PDP-11 ripoff) - a home computer with Focal interpreter and a horrible keyboard, where a thin film with printed keys was stretched what looked like ordinary keyboard keys with the actual key "cap" removed. It was horribly slow to type at, prone to errors and gave out an annoying beep on each keypress.
Next version BK-0011 - had "ordinary" keyboard, except the keys were prone to stick and creaked when pressed, so you often had to use a pen or knife to get them unpressed.
Reminds me of a short story by (I think) Robert Sheckley from back around 60ies/70ies. I don't remember it exactly, so I may blunder a bit, but in short it goes like this:
There are automated scanners at entrance of workplaces (and probably also in more of public places), that measure (and show publicly on screen) each passing person's level of agitation/agression and supposedly possible psychosis. If you are scanned as way too high level, police/doctors can come and take you away for good, if you are deemed incurable, you are killed.
There is a man, who notices that his level is raising every other day, and he gets more and more nervous about it, so his measurement levels raise every next day; in the end he wounds himself up so much that he is taken away even though he hasn't really done anything actually.
Even if it does, I would assume there could be workarounds in territories covered by both systems - you could read data from GPS and from GLONASS and calculate precise enough so that the individual GPS or GLONASS offsets are ineffective.
> Try getting a visa with a camera... I was there on a vacation with a little SLR and had quite a hard time... It wasn't even digital! > The highlight of my trip was when some drunkard American guy tried to run up the pyramid... While the all the conscripts chased him, I sat on a big stone and got my money shot. (Of myself, on a pyramid!)
Eh? You weren't allowed to use camera near pyramids? I went to Egypt a couple years ago and had no problem, could take photos anywhere I wanted...
Hmm, I don't really understand. What kinds of standards would be those that supposedly hold Linux back?
I have checked out Mac OS X and a comparatively recent version of Ubuntu Linux. My vote goes for Ubuntu, definitely. However, since it is a matter of taste anyway, I would just like to say I was able to do with Ubuntu whatever I was able to do with Mac. If anything, as a non-Brith/American, I would praise Linux support for Unicode, which, in my experience, is better than on Mac OS X (particularly Mac's X11 emulation layer doesn't well support unicode).
Remember, the collapse of the SU - nobody had time nor money for space. Apart from several succesful science divisions, most of Soviet-time science institutions were struggling for survival (and many of them didn't survive) both in Russia and in its former republics. There was rampant stealing and selling of scientific machines, technologies and what have you. So, Buran might've been axed just because there was no interest in space exploration at that time at all.
Additionally, considering the costs mentioned, I wouldn't be at all surprised, if some costs that are significant in the US are simply not taken into account in Russian space programs. For example, it could well be that astronauts are paid next to nothing, or fuel is being diverted by government rather than being bought. Etc.
Don't the US have some sort of laws about information privacy like here in EU?
I believe there is an EU regulation that has been implemented in (well at least our it is) member states, that specifies how the information concerning individuals must be stored, to whom it may be given and under what circumstances - for all other matters it is considered confidential. There is a State Person Data Inspection, which actually does follow this. AFAIK, not very closely, but you definitely can go and complain and they do investigate. Major telcos and banks definitely are wary about that and have implemented procedures for this years ago here.
(1) If I understand it correctly, Japan outclasses EU/US not only by percentage of high-speed access, but also in absolute terms - millions of users.
(2) While Japan may be protecting its telco market and this in itself sounds anti-competitive, I, as a member of EU state, would be absolutely horrified if, for example, AT&T would try to come to EU seriously. The reports in slashdot and other media, but more importantly - from my friends who now live in US,- all say to me that the only reason US people tolerate their telcos is because they know no better. To think that just by money spent on advertising and maybe buying up some smaller local telcos, AT&T could gain a significant market share and try to impose their absurd contracts and (lack of) service...
Hmm? How exactly is Truecrypt worse for what you describe? As I understand, the hidden volume occupies the same logical volume space in the file, and since the data there is encrypted, it should be indistinguishible from kinda random data the empty volume is filled with initially?
Slashdot Mirror
I don't get it. Haven't seen video flickers or "rub outs" on my Ubuntu for at least 3 years... on different hardware. Is there something I should be aware/wary of?
Now, normal humidity in a room would be around 40-50%. Run this machine and quickly you get air that is too dry to be healthy, so this is apparently for use outdoors. Still the question is about the environment you can run this in efficiently: From TFA: The mill ceases to be effective below about 30 per cent relative humidity levels, which are common later in the day in states such as Arizona. To combat that problem, the machine has an intelligent computer built into it that increases its output at dawn when humidity is highest, and reduces it from mid-afternoon when a blazing sun dries the air.
That's assuming they have nothing better to do. Panem et circenses... hail, Caesar!
Try Human Rights' Watch.
While I am basically the same kind of guy (self taught - going to college for a degree atm after 15+ years in the field), I would say that a lot of problems with IT solutions, especially software development, are precisely due to: }}} Now, how many people get into IT through "non standard" channels? How many self-taught pros are there out there? Union is an overkill and union-only hiring would be a nightmare. HOWEVER, some sort of professional standard that is as well known as eg. medical school for doctors, would be nice. Now what we have is all sorts of certificates in all kinds of specific fields. Some sort of general voluntary "test of aptitude" would be a nice thing.
There is information circulating - in Russian, so I doubt it is of any use to quote here - Russian radiostation Echo Moskvi interviews - that Russia was preparing for the war for quite some time and trying to edge Georgia towards doing something that could lead to invasion.
At any rate, the probable truth is this:
- there have been tensions between Ossetian region and Georgia for quite some time, blood feuds and what not;
- it is conceivable that Georgian behaviour towards Ossetian inhabitants where they had power was as bad as Ossetian towards Georgian. This could be related to the old grudges when Georgians had to flee Ossetian territories earlier.
[You know a good old blood feud when you hear about atrocities commited from both sides and nobody can make neither head nor tail of it.]
- Georgian current president has been pro-West oriented, and plans were underway for making an oil pipeline through Georgia that would bypass Russia.
So, essentially what we have here seems to be Russia trying to prevent Georgia from supplying West with oil by egging on old feuds in the region.
As regards support for Ossetian independence - it is probably a good move. One can only wonder why did Russia went to war TWICE with Chechnya recently, in order to PREVENT their independence though.
Arthur Clarke has been behind numerous perceptions and ideas that are commonplace nowadays.
For example, he is the author of the widely quoted "Sufficiently advanced science is indistinguishable from magic".
As well, he was able to pretty accurately imagine an astounding number of technological advances.
A loosely re-translated quote from a Russian magazine "Esli"(If), regarding Clarke's 90th birthday:
"By the way, in the early works of Clarke there is an enormous amount of bold technical predictions, many of which have been realized - or they have every chance to be realized in near future. In the very same "Childhood's End", which is more of a religious-philosophic rather than futurological work, there is the determination of the baby's gender during pregnancy (very similar to nowaday DNA testing), contraception pills, document sending over phone lines with a device which is even named "facsimile device". Among the catalogue of technological predictions it is easy to miss a direct hit on social predictions -- Clarke assumes that socialism as a political order will be extinct by 22th century."
When asked about his future career, Sweeney indicated intention of opening a beauty parlour chain near the main offices of major PC manufacturers: - They certainly deserve the best, - he said. - And my hands are itching for work.
I wonder if anyone outside the US actually even knows Yahoo much anymore (I understand now that inside the US it is still used - like yandex in Russia, I was told).
Around 10 years ago you knew Yahoo, if you wanted web-based e-mail, groups/mailing lists. Now I haven't been on yahoo site for more than 5 years, and neither does anybody who I knew used it back then.
Btw, IANAL, so I'd like to understand:
Isn't it the case that USPTO can be sued, if it fails to process patent application in alloted time?
I don't know if TFA includes anything about membrane keyboards (can't access the site for some reason), but the most horrible keyboard I remember was that of Soviet Elektronika BK-0010 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elektronika_BK - a PDP-11 ripoff) - a home computer with Focal interpreter and a horrible keyboard, where a thin film with printed keys was stretched what looked like ordinary keyboard keys with the actual key "cap" removed. It was horribly slow to type at, prone to errors and gave out an annoying beep on each keypress.
Next version BK-0011 - had "ordinary" keyboard, except the keys were prone to stick and creaked when pressed, so you often had to use a pen or knife to get them unpressed.
It depends on how this is used.
Reminds me of a short story by (I think) Robert Sheckley from back around 60ies/70ies. I don't remember it exactly, so I may blunder a bit, but in short it goes like this:
There are automated scanners at entrance of workplaces (and probably also in more of public places), that measure (and show publicly on screen) each passing person's level of agitation/agression and supposedly possible psychosis. If you are scanned as way too high level, police/doctors can come and take you away for good, if you are deemed incurable, you are killed.
There is a man, who notices that his level is raising every other day, and he gets more and more nervous about it, so his measurement levels raise every next day; in the end he wounds himself up so much that he is taken away even though he hasn't really done anything actually.
Basically, while the scanners may be a good thing, this is definitely going slippery slope towards thought police.
{ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thought_crime }
I am even more surprised that the only reader review for the article, says only good stuff about the computer, but at the same time it gives EVEN WORSE RATING (1 vs editors' 1.5): http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2704,2227810,00.asp#member_rating
Is it reader's oversight, or who assigned or changed the rating then...
Even if it does, I would assume there could be workarounds in territories covered by both systems - you could read data from GPS and from GLONASS and calculate precise enough so that the individual GPS or GLONASS offsets are ineffective.
> Try getting a visa with a camera... I was there on a vacation with a little SLR and had quite a hard time... It wasn't even digital!
> The highlight of my trip was when some drunkard American guy tried to run up the pyramid... While the all the conscripts chased him, I sat on a big stone and got my money shot. (Of myself, on a pyramid!)
Eh? You weren't allowed to use camera near pyramids? I went to Egypt a couple years ago and had no problem, could take photos anywhere I wanted...
> What's next? Is Germany going to "copyright" the swastika, so they can cash in on WW-II flicks?
Too much prior art. India would sue them blue for Hitler's appropriation of the symbol then.
( http://www.religionfacts.com/hinduism/symbols/swastika.htm )
> Maybe Vegas should copyright gambling, booze and hookers?
Too much prior art.
This was actually the case also for POP support at lesast some time ago. Latvian interface didn't have the options, and US English did.
Now, however, I don't see IMAP at US English either, so it is not solely interface language dependant.
Hmm, I don't really understand. What kinds of standards would be those that supposedly hold Linux back?
I have checked out Mac OS X and a comparatively recent version of Ubuntu Linux.
My vote goes for Ubuntu, definitely. However, since it is a matter of taste anyway, I would just like to say I was able to do with Ubuntu whatever I was able to do with Mac. If anything, as a non-Brith/American, I would praise Linux support for Unicode, which, in my experience, is better than on Mac OS X (particularly Mac's X11 emulation layer doesn't well support unicode).
Umm, not neccessarily.
Remember, the collapse of the SU - nobody had time nor money for space. Apart from several succesful science divisions, most of Soviet-time science institutions were struggling for survival (and many of them didn't survive) both in Russia and in its former republics. There was rampant stealing and selling of scientific machines, technologies and what have you. So, Buran might've been axed just because there was no interest in space exploration at that time at all.
Additionally, considering the costs mentioned, I wouldn't be at all surprised, if some costs that are significant in the US are simply not taken into account in Russian space programs. For example, it could well be that astronauts are paid next to nothing, or fuel is being diverted by government rather than being bought. Etc.
You are thinking of The Avengers.
Don't the US have some sort of laws about information privacy like here in EU?
I believe there is an EU regulation that has been implemented in (well at least our it is) member states, that specifies how the information concerning individuals must be stored, to whom it may be given and under what circumstances - for all other matters it is considered confidential. There is a State Person Data Inspection, which actually does follow this. AFAIK, not very closely, but you definitely can go and complain and they do investigate. Major telcos and banks definitely are wary about that and have implemented procedures for this years ago here.
As a former FSN for a US Embassy, I can second that for DoS, too - at least as much as we were able to glimpse into the world of FSOs. ;)
(1) If I understand it correctly, Japan outclasses EU/US not only by percentage of high-speed access, but also in absolute terms - millions of users.
(2) While Japan may be protecting its telco market and this in itself sounds anti-competitive, I, as a member of EU state, would be absolutely horrified if, for example, AT&T would try to come to EU seriously. The reports in slashdot and other media, but more importantly - from my friends who now live in US,- all say to me that the only reason US people tolerate their telcos is because they know no better.
To think that just by money spent on advertising and maybe buying up some smaller local telcos, AT&T could gain a significant market share and try to impose their absurd contracts and (lack of) service...
Hmm? How exactly is Truecrypt worse for what you describe? As I understand, the hidden volume occupies the same logical volume space in the file, and since the data there is encrypted, it should be indistinguishible from kinda random data the empty volume is filled with initially?