"And a community designed where a bike is the most transportation a person needs to own."
Definitely required. In fact it exists for most places outside of the U.S., although we're starting to see more car-centric crap here in the UK too.
A city should never be more than 4-10 miles away from its furthest residential areas, and the road junctions need to be navigable by bikes. It's not that hard, yet it only takes some city-deigner with a wet-dream of a 4-lane freeway connecting the shopping mall to the downtown to make a place unusable.
It's 5 miles from here to my work, and there's a cycle-lane the whole way. If only we could say that of all peoples' homes/work.
Kevlar tyres are very puncture-resistant. If your tyres go flat slowly over the course of several weeks, it means your innertube is broken, and needs repairing or replacing just like any other broken component.
2) Something to keep the rain and road dirt from putting a big skunk stripe up our backs when riding in wet climates. There are fenders, but they don't work well.
Look for the CrudCatcher, and its rear-wheel relation the CrudGuard. They work well even for serious off-road use.
When that's done, have a look at Goretex cycling tops which you can wear over the top of your neat clothes.
And of course, a courier-bag, which holds your change of clothes for work, plus protects about half of your back from mud.
3) The ability to fold the frame so that it can fit in the back of a small car or on the bus.
They're called Brompton Bikes, and they're very popular amongst commuters. Most rush-hour trains will have at least one such bike on them.
4) Brakes that work in the rain.
You can (should) buy rims with a ceramic coating, as they work very well in the rain, and don't cost much more than normal rims.
Disc brakes are also very popular, and will work no matter how wet, muddy, or damaged your rims are.
5) Tires that don't go flat. So important, I'm saying it twice.
So important, that in addition to kevlar tyres, you can even fill them with goop which will automatically repair any punctures, James Bond syle.
Well yeah, dumb bitch, you were changing the tape, dialing the phone, and reaching for the babie's bottle on the floor while changing lanes
I agree with you about the SUV drivers though. The only consolation is that it's their children who are at risk from bikes in the same way that bikes are at risk from the SUVs. What goes around comes around.
Combine this with geographical information? The google project was scanning websites, looking for zip-code-like text (postal codes, city names, etc) and doing conversions to lat/long.
Someone is also running a project where people volunteer their location, and it's mapped to the IP address and used to provide a GeoIP-like database
"When people working on the distribution support users, it takes away from the time that they could be spending to improve the distribution. Therefore, it makes sense for them to not make Debian open for anybody to install."
Mozilla.org have outsourced their telephone support to a dedicated company, who are making $40 per call off reccommendations on the mozilla website. This isn't taking any time from any developer.
Mandrake-linux has (in addition to their staff support) a system where users can login, browse support requests, and answer them. The top-rated guys who help out at the site get paid for their efforts.
Google now has a system where you can ask a question, and allocate a sum of money for anyone who can answer it satisfactorily. This seems to be working, and would be a useful system for any linux experts with spare time.
Yesterday on slashdot, a project was proposed where roles in free software (developer, project manager, security auditor, and presumably support) could be put out to tender, with people worldwide bidding for the chance to get this support money.
Would it not be better to use similar systems with any Free Software, rather than cherry-picking the types of user who won't call for support? There are a lot of people who like the confidence ok knowing that if mozilla doesn't work, they can phone for help.
"It should detect your sound card, and then play a sound that says "hey, we found your sound card!" and it should let you use your USB mouse..."
You can almost see it connecting to all the printers in the building, and printing "Debian lives. 164.0.2.253 is self aware, and has mapped your locality"
"Dave, I've autodetected your bluetooth hardware, and installed debian on all mobile telephones in the area. Your laptop is low on batteries, and I've adjusted the time on your watch. The elevators have been hardware-detected, and now play the gnu song at each floor. I couldn't find a printer-driver for your cat."
"Most people, like the poster, incorrectly assume that "begs the question" is the same as "answers the question". This describes the proper use of the phrase." Actually, that site's a bit of a cop-out, which doesn't really explain the logic, and suggests that you avoid the phrase if you don't know how to use it.
What's the problem with saying "x begs the question..." when x is a scenario, and does indeed make you think of a certain question?
How is "x raises the question..." any better, apart from sounding like you're trying to avoid the b word?
What's the reccommended construction?
If you choose to use the correct version, and somebody asks why you're such a pompous git, would it not be even more embarassing to not have a really good answer why one phrase is better than the other?
"I'd say having a market share that'd at least make companies take Linux users into consideration would benefit all."
Reccommend Mandrake-Linux to your companies if they have Intel Pentium desktop computers, with keyboards, mouses, monitors, and graphics cards, and if you need an easy graphical installer which can be used without too much knowledge of the details.
Mandrake's what I use, and what I'd reccommend. But if you were asking about a less "typical" system, then you might find that the Mandrake installer is less than ideal. For example, if you have a hundred computers, and none of them have monitors or keyboards, you might be a bit stuck if you expected them to display a graphical installer somewhere. (actually, I'm pretty sure that Mandrake allows a text-mode install, so it'll still work on non-GUI systems)
In short, the Debian installer Must Just Work(TM) on as many computers as possible, whereas Mandrake, Windows etc. can get away with only working on the subset which most people use. It's a fair point; optimise for the most frequent case. But Debian can't do that without giving up it's reputation for being the universal operating system.
It's not as if Debian installer is difficult to use, either. Just hit Enter, lots of times. Although I'd be tempted to reccommend Knoppix if you're installing Debian on 'standard' computers - just boot from the CD, and then type "knx-hdinstall"
"Go to Edit->Fill In Form in Mozilla and watch what happens."
Anyone concerned about their privacy would do well to visit the usefully named "privacy and security" preferences on their browser.
Cookies: enable, disable, per-site, prompt, auto, originating site only, disable in email, limit lifetime...
Images: enable, disable, originating site only. Animation on/off
Popups: enable, disable, per-site
Forms: enable, disable, per-site
Passwords: enable, disable, per-site
To see what information has been stored, see the Tools->Form manager->Edit sites menu, where you can review the information, and delete it selectively or completely.
Similarly, Tools->Password manager->Manage stored passwords can be used to see any passwords stored, and selectively or completely delete them.
Of course, Tools->Cookie manager works in a similar way, as does Tools->Image manager, and Tools->Popup manager.
Naturally, you can set each of these features on a per-site basis, or disable each feature completely.
On an unrelated note, anyone setting up Mozilla to their liking will be find some other preferences useful, which are not on the menus
"Frankly, I don't want "single-sign-on", and I don't get why other people would either."
<distribution country="uk"> David Blunkett wants you to have a single-sign-on, your opinions be damned... Now you can use a single number to access your bank account, travel abroad, and prove your age in bars.
For anyone thinking "that won't work on Windows", you can get a linux boot CD at the Linux-BBC project, or get them with a FSF membership. Or use knoppix if you want a full installation on bootable CD.
Oh yeah, and stop reccommending Windows for corporate desktops.
"The public accepts the idea that batteries die and need to be replaced, so therefore, battery companies make money. What would be their incentive to create better batteries?"
So that they could sell better batteries?
The fact that NiMH batteries exist and are selling, suggests that this is the case.
- One 10-Watt halogen light with a lead-acid battery. It's lasted me for several years, but is starting to loose it's charge. - 2-3 blinking lights which take any old AA & AAA batteries.
My version of the 10W lights you have died after about 6 months. The newer versions have proper batteries, but are about twice as expensive, or more.
For the smaller lights, NiMH cells work just fine, and have a reaonable lifespan and charge. You might want to buy a couple of sets, both for using while the other is being charged, and for carrying as backup.
AAA rechargeable batteries used to be harder to find, but I just noticed them here
"IMHO, most linux users are pro Open Source, and the GPL, This is the fundamental problem. No Linux users are genuinely going to beleive the FUD that comes from Utah."
Perhaps this explains the choice of Hollywood? The people who are so absolutely anti free software that they will try to tell you that musicians who use non-microsoft codecs are by definition illegitimate and probably illegal, the people who use linux because they'll do anything to save a buck, and the same people who moved to Hollywood so that they could rip off other peoples' copyrights, only to later enforce their own with guns and swat teams.
Hollywood does not count as a good community member.
"Does anybody have the eclipse times for Europe ?"
Start (16:30) EST, where Eastern Standard Time is 5 hours behind GMT. That makes 01.30 in England, which is using GMT at the moment. (update: USNO says 01:06 GMT for beginning of totality)
My website says that hungary is in GMT+1, which would make it 02:06 start (for a couple of hours duration), unless you're still using daylight-savings time?
Anyone further east than hungary will have to get up even later in the morning, unless you're a hacker, in which case you'll be able to see it while you're still working.
All we need now is a power-cut forecast... does anybody here work in the east midlands switchgear department?
Slashdot Mirror
Bin Laden is evil too. As is anyone who purposely targets civilians.
Purposefully targeting civilians? You'll find a whole lot more evil closer to home if you use that definition...
"Try voting twice. It won't let you do so from the same IP address."
Answer A: Alive-proxy - 613620 proxy servers in database, of which 15550 Anonymous, and 298070 Transparent
Answer B: many people have easy access to 65,000 IP addresses; I know we have that many at work, and all but 300 are unused.
"And a community designed where a bike is the most transportation a person needs to own."
Definitely required. In fact it exists for most places outside of the U.S., although we're starting to see more car-centric crap here in the UK too.
A city should never be more than 4-10 miles away from its furthest residential areas, and the road junctions need to be navigable by bikes. It's not that hard, yet it only takes some city-deigner with a wet-dream of a 4-lane freeway connecting the shopping mall to the downtown to make a place unusable.
It's 5 miles from here to my work, and there's a cycle-lane the whole way. If only we could say that of all peoples' homes/work.
You just can't help but respond to that...
1) Tires that don't go flat!
Kevlar tyres are very puncture-resistant. If your tyres go flat slowly over the course of several weeks, it means your innertube is broken, and needs repairing or replacing just like any other broken component.
2) Something to keep the rain and road dirt from putting a big skunk stripe up our backs when riding in wet climates. There are fenders, but they don't work well.
Look for the CrudCatcher, and its rear-wheel relation the CrudGuard. They work well even for serious off-road use.
When that's done, have a look at Goretex cycling tops which you can wear over the top of your neat clothes.
And of course, a courier-bag, which holds your change of clothes for work, plus protects about half of your back from mud.
3) The ability to fold the frame so that it can fit in the back of a small car or on the bus.
They're called Brompton Bikes, and they're very popular amongst commuters. Most rush-hour trains will have at least one such bike on them.
4) Brakes that work in the rain.
You can (should) buy rims with a ceramic coating, as they work very well in the rain, and don't cost much more than normal rims.
Disc brakes are also very popular, and will work no matter how wet, muddy, or damaged your rims are.
5) Tires that don't go flat. So important, I'm saying it twice.
So important, that in addition to kevlar tyres, you can even fill them with goop which will automatically repair any punctures, James Bond syle.
Well yeah, dumb bitch, you were changing the tape, dialing the phone, and reaching for the babie's bottle on the floor while changing lanes
I agree with you about the SUV drivers though. The only consolation is that it's their children who are at risk from bikes in the same way that bikes are at risk from the SUVs. What goes around comes around.
Combine this with geographical information? The google project was scanning websites, looking for zip-code-like text (postal codes, city names, etc) and doing conversions to lat/long.
Someone is also running a project where people volunteer their location, and it's mapped to the IP address and used to provide a GeoIP-like database
"I'll keep my debian thx for $0, after all that is the point of free software."
But not the point of Free Software.
"When people working on the distribution support users, it takes away from the time that they could be spending to improve the distribution. Therefore, it makes sense for them to not make Debian open for anybody to install."
Mozilla.org have outsourced their telephone support to a dedicated company, who are making $40 per call off reccommendations on the mozilla website. This isn't taking any time from any developer.
Mandrake-linux has (in addition to their staff support) a system where users can login, browse support requests, and answer them. The top-rated guys who help out at the site get paid for their efforts.
Google now has a system where you can ask a question, and allocate a sum of money for anyone who can answer it satisfactorily. This seems to be working, and would be a useful system for any linux experts with spare time.
Yesterday on slashdot, a project was proposed where roles in free software (developer, project manager, security auditor, and presumably support) could be put out to tender, with people worldwide bidding for the chance to get this support money.
Would it not be better to use similar systems with any Free Software, rather than cherry-picking the types of user who won't call for support? There are a lot of people who like the confidence ok knowing that if mozilla doesn't work, they can phone for help.
"It should detect your sound card, and then play a sound that says "hey, we found your sound card!" and it should let you use your USB mouse..."
You can almost see it connecting to all the printers in the building, and printing "Debian lives. 164.0.2.253 is self aware, and has mapped your locality"
"Dave, I've autodetected your bluetooth hardware, and installed debian on all mobile telephones in the area. Your laptop is low on batteries, and I've adjusted the time on your watch. The elevators have been hardware-detected, and now play the gnu song at each floor. I couldn't find a printer-driver for your cat."
Is slashdot composed of people who know how easy it is to type:--
delete * from votes where result=12 and (rand() < 0.01);
Actually, that site's a bit of a cop-out, which doesn't really explain the logic, and suggests that you avoid the phrase if you don't know how to use it.
"I'd say having a market share that'd at least make companies take Linux users into consideration would benefit all."
Reccommend Mandrake-Linux to your companies if they have Intel Pentium desktop computers, with keyboards, mouses, monitors, and graphics cards, and if you need an easy graphical installer which can be used without too much knowledge of the details.
Mandrake's what I use, and what I'd reccommend. But if you were asking about a less "typical" system, then you might find that the Mandrake installer is less than ideal. For example, if you have a hundred computers, and none of them have monitors or keyboards, you might be a bit stuck if you expected them to display a graphical installer somewhere. (actually, I'm pretty sure that Mandrake allows a text-mode install, so it'll still work on non-GUI systems)
In short, the Debian installer Must Just Work(TM) on as many computers as possible, whereas Mandrake, Windows etc. can get away with only working on the subset which most people use. It's a fair point; optimise for the most frequent case. But Debian can't do that without giving up it's reputation for being the universal operating system.
It's not as if Debian installer is difficult to use, either. Just hit Enter, lots of times. Although I'd be tempted to reccommend Knoppix if you're installing Debian on 'standard' computers - just boot from the CD, and then type "knx-hdinstall"
"Whatever. I'm still waiting on the flying cars."
Look around you at the other drivers. Do you really want them to have flying cars?
"Yes, I think we can all agree that saying "AOL" will be a "get out of jail free" card."
But a 1-month sentence would take 4 years, and you still wouldn't be able to get out...
"Go to Edit->Fill In Form in Mozilla and watch what happens."
Anyone concerned about their privacy would do well to visit the usefully named "privacy and security" preferences on their browser.
To see what information has been stored, see the Tools->Form manager->Edit sites menu, where you can review the information, and delete it selectively or completely.
Similarly, Tools->Password manager->Manage stored passwords can be used to see any passwords stored, and selectively or completely delete them.
Of course, Tools->Cookie manager works in a similar way, as does Tools->Image manager, and Tools->Popup manager.
Naturally, you can set each of these features on a per-site basis, or disable each feature completely.
On an unrelated note, anyone setting up Mozilla to their liking will be find some other preferences useful, which are not on the menus
"Frankly, I don't want "single-sign-on", and I don't get why other people would either."
<distribution country="uk">
David Blunkett wants you to have a single-sign-on, your opinions be damned... Now you can use a single number to access your bank account, travel abroad, and prove your age in bars.
"Surely this is a violation of their IP in regards to extorting money using online means!"
My MP would call it a "computer-implemented invention"
dd if=/dev/hda1 of=/dev/hdb1
For anyone thinking "that won't work on Windows", you can get a linux boot CD at the Linux-BBC project, or get them with a FSF membership. Or use knoppix if you want a full installation on bootable CD.
Oh yeah, and stop reccommending Windows for corporate desktops.
"The public accepts the idea that batteries die and need to be replaced, so therefore, battery companies make money. What would be their incentive to create better batteries?"
So that they could sell better batteries?
The fact that NiMH batteries exist and are selling, suggests that this is the case.
- One 10-Watt halogen light with a lead-acid battery. It's lasted me for several years, but is starting to loose it's charge.
- 2-3 blinking lights which take any old AA & AAA batteries.
My version of the 10W lights you have died after about 6 months. The newer versions have proper batteries, but are about twice as expensive, or more.
For the smaller lights, NiMH cells work just fine, and have a reaonable lifespan and charge. You might want to buy a couple of sets, both for using while the other is being charged, and for carrying as backup.
AAA rechargeable batteries used to be harder to find, but I just noticed them here
"PIN number". "ATM machine". "CD-ROM disc". "DAT tape". All wrong. All stupid.
GNU must be infinitely bad...
"will there be a linux version of this? or are only the win32 hackers allowed to enter the matrix?"
Well Trinity was in it, and she was a *nix girl.
"IMHO, most linux users are pro Open Source, and the GPL, This is the fundamental problem. No Linux users are genuinely going to beleive the FUD that comes from Utah."
Perhaps this explains the choice of Hollywood? The people who are so absolutely anti free software that they will try to tell you that musicians who use non-microsoft codecs are by definition illegitimate and probably illegal, the people who use linux because they'll do anything to save a buck, and the same people who moved to Hollywood so that they could rip off other peoples' copyrights, only to later enforce their own with guns and swat teams.
Hollywood does not count as a good community member.
"Lunar eclipse.. don't forget the meteor shower afterwards..."
All we need now is an aurora so excited that you can see it from Europe.. Oh yeah, we've got that too tonight.
"Does anybody have the eclipse times for Europe ?"
Start (16:30) EST, where Eastern Standard Time is 5 hours behind GMT. That makes 01.30 in England, which is using GMT at the moment. (update: USNO says 01:06 GMT for beginning of totality)
My website says that hungary is in GMT+1, which would make it 02:06 start (for a couple of hours duration), unless you're still using daylight-savings time?
Anyone further east than hungary will have to get up even later in the morning, unless you're a hacker, in which case you'll be able to see it while you're still working.
All we need now is a power-cut forecast... does anybody here work in the east midlands switchgear department?