updating the bios of your motherboard from a floppy is still one of the more fool proof methods of doing it. it's so easy for other programs to fsck up flashing the bios in windows, i have had to fix allot of computers after that. linux also is not a supported os on such motherboards so your stuck with what ever bios the motherboard(including laptops) ship with. you can't even make a cd to flash the bios with one of those winflash programs in such circumstances.
at the risk of burning karma i will post this. I moved completely to linux to get away from drm of this kind. i admit steam is a somewhat successful digital distribution system but the drm they bundled with the games makes them too hard to swallow. requiring a constant internet so the games can phone home when needed, sorry offline mode only works a few times before steam refuses to run games until you get back online. along with removing your control of the installed files for the game by putting them in one big file, i have also heard rumors that it prevents you from making backups of the install files though i can't confirm this since i don't want to buy a steam powered game. Also the big push for online distribution also erks me because unlike a small minority of people/my/ isp complains when i download allot of data, it doesn't matter to them if it's legit or not.
I would not be surprised if it does come to linux but requires a kernel module to get the drm to work and prevent users from defeating it since on linux users are more in control of what their computers do then in windows which has long ceded that control company's that do this.
that radio signal's degrade over distance and becomes undetectable from background radiation after a few light years. with our nearest neighbor star about 10 light years away i would not be surprised if there were any signal's out there but by the time they reach us they are just part of the background radiation. same goes for our's that we send out.
is stuff like the latest Britney spears cd(i know it's kind of a exaggeration but it's closer to the truth then you realize) draconion laws such as these are needed to a degree.
oh he is a legal entity, but just like george orwel's animal farm where two legs went from 'bad' to 'better'. the mpaa/riaa has now legally 'more free' speech then he does, and thus has become a 'better' legal entity then a normal person.
when i had to re-pay for my pandora pre-order while everyone was encouraging xoom or paypal which link directly to your bank account. i went to my bank, asked for a cashier's check(insured no less so that if it doesn't get to where it's going i don't loose the money) and they did it for free. when i asked about why not many people use this they simply said they don't advertise the fact that you can do it. xoom and paypal prey on this ignorance and that sickens me.
i would expect as much, it's within the cia's self interest to prevent the existence of a encryption algorithm they can't crack or don't already have a key too.
but due to monsanto's lobbying, they get to have their cake and eat it too. they lobby that their gm corn is 'different' enough that it requires patent protection, BUT they then turn around and lobby the fda(or have their former employee's that work there) declare it no different then normal corn so it gets the 'generally assumed as safe' status meaning it is exempt from special regulation and is treated by the fda as non-gma corn.
Selective breeding though is a different process, they took a already existing trait and only let the seeds from the plants that had it germinat, if the trait produced something else they did not want they either tried to select against it or started over. gm corn is taking a gene from a completely different organism, in this case gene's from Bactria that gained resistance to their weed killer or from a organism that produces natural(as in not artificially produced) insecticide and shoot it into the genome of the corn or another plant with micro gold spheres as well as chemical's that not only turn the gene on but smash the switch that turns the gene on and off in the on position.
so they decided on using a data center the size of one of google's to do the rendering job in real time rather then using a data center the size of a house using actual gpus?
I find it funny how some people can rationalize something they wish was true.
Actually the smoke from smoking is fine enough that it can get through the filter on the hard drive and inside it. not to mention it will also coat the laser diode for your optical drive. the tar that is left behind by the smoke can stick on surfaces and in turn cause dust to stick to parts worse then before causing heat related issues.
you might be joking but didn't someone from the nsa publicly state that the lack of us made computer hardware is a security risk? remember we used to put hardware back doors in computers that were made in canada which were bought by the soviet union back in the day. Nothing is stopping china from doing the same to us for example.
because most hardware is not made in the united states. because of that there is no way to establish a chain of trust between the nsa and the maker's of said components to ensure the backdoor is there.
the place i work for has been doing that for years. either with vista or with the new machines coming with 7.
Also i have heard microsoft is allot more careful who they give review copy's of 7 out to now, looks like they desperately want it to be a success that they will make sure all the reviews are positive.
though it is perfect security theater. it has a scientific basis, and it can easily be spun by the media that the fear was caused by not wanting to be caught thus making it the accused's word against the cops and the media. end result, the rest of the population thinks the government is doing it's job and swallows this willingly while it does nothing to stop a threat you can't really stop anyway and a whole lot of money is made by a few people.
incorrect. coal did not come from year to year decomposition of plants in temperate climates. Coal was formed mostly during the Carboniferous era in earth's past. at this time allot of the dry land was peat bog's and everglade's like swamps. year after year of leaf litter pressed down on the previous year's leaf litter preventing decomposition of the plants, add in a few million years of heat and pressure and the organic matter is carbonized thus forming coal.
give the current leaf litter in these area's today a few million years and the same heat and pressure and it will be transformed into coal.
Slashdot Mirror
updating the bios of your motherboard from a floppy is still one of the more fool proof methods of doing it. it's so easy for other programs to fsck up flashing the bios in windows, i have had to fix allot of computers after that. linux also is not a supported os on such motherboards so your stuck with what ever bios the motherboard(including laptops) ship with. you can't even make a cd to flash the bios with one of those winflash programs in such circumstances.
at the risk of burning karma i will post this. /my/ isp complains when i download allot of data, it doesn't matter to them if it's legit or not.
I moved completely to linux to get away from drm of this kind. i admit steam is a somewhat successful digital distribution system but the drm they bundled with the games makes them too hard to swallow. requiring a constant internet so the games can phone home when needed, sorry offline mode only works a few times before steam refuses to run games until you get back online. along with removing your control of the installed files for the game by putting them in one big file, i have also heard rumors that it prevents you from making backups of the install files though i can't confirm this since i don't want to buy a steam powered game. Also the big push for online distribution also erks me because unlike a small minority of people
I would not be surprised if it does come to linux but requires a kernel module to get the drm to work and prevent users from defeating it since on linux users are more in control of what their computers do then in windows which has long ceded that control company's that do this.
that radio signal's degrade over distance and becomes undetectable from background radiation after a few light years. with our nearest neighbor star about 10 light years away i would not be surprised if there were any signal's out there but by the time they reach us they are just part of the background radiation. same goes for our's that we send out.
is stuff like the latest Britney spears cd(i know it's kind of a exaggeration but it's closer to the truth then you realize) draconion laws such as these are needed to a degree.
oh he is a legal entity, but just like george orwel's animal farm where two legs went from 'bad' to 'better'. the mpaa/riaa has now legally 'more free' speech then he does, and thus has become a 'better' legal entity then a normal person.
The sad thing is that the ruling might make it illegal to even cite one book or article in another without asking for the permission first.
Digital records can be easily altered and it takes tools most banks don't have to tell when and by whom. Paper records are more secure.
when i had to re-pay for my pandora pre-order while everyone was encouraging xoom or paypal which link directly to your bank account. i went to my bank, asked for a cashier's check(insured no less so that if it doesn't get to where it's going i don't loose the money) and they did it for free. when i asked about why not many people use this they simply said they don't advertise the fact that you can do it. xoom and paypal prey on this ignorance and that sickens me.
i would expect as much, it's within the cia's self interest to prevent the existence of a encryption algorithm they can't crack or don't already have a key too.
but only for a short while before it refuses to run until you connect again to authenticate.
it's been owned for a long time before that ruling. all the ruling did was make it legal.
I have the latest build able version of chromium installed. 4.0.295.0 and it won't work.
EA recently shut down all internet play on a popular sports franchise to 'force' people to buy the new game rather then playing a older one.
how about this, valve goes under and shuts off it's steam servers?
until steam says you can't play game x anymore online because we want you to play game y instead.
but due to monsanto's lobbying, they get to have their cake and eat it too. they lobby that their gm corn is 'different' enough that it requires patent protection, BUT they then turn around and lobby the fda(or have their former employee's that work there) declare it no different then normal corn so it gets the 'generally assumed as safe' status meaning it is exempt from special regulation and is treated by the fda as non-gma corn.
Selective breeding though is a different process, they took a already existing trait and only let the seeds from the plants that had it germinat, if the trait produced something else they did not want they either tried to select against it or started over. gm corn is taking a gene from a completely different organism, in this case gene's from Bactria that gained resistance to their weed killer or from a organism that produces natural(as in not artificially produced) insecticide and shoot it into the genome of the corn or another plant with micro gold spheres as well as chemical's that not only turn the gene on but smash the switch that turns the gene on and off in the on position.
so they decided on using a data center the size of one of google's to do the rendering job in real time rather then using a data center the size of a house using actual gpus?
I find it funny how some people can rationalize something they wish was true.
how about every failed airline has to turn their planes into housing?
Actually the smoke from smoking is fine enough that it can get through the filter on the hard drive and inside it. not to mention it will also coat the laser diode for your optical drive. the tar that is left behind by the smoke can stick on surfaces and in turn cause dust to stick to parts worse then before causing heat related issues.
you might be joking but didn't someone from the nsa publicly state that the lack of us made computer hardware is a security risk? remember we used to put hardware back doors in computers that were made in canada which were bought by the soviet union back in the day. Nothing is stopping china from doing the same to us for example.
because most hardware is not made in the united states. because of that there is no way to establish a chain of trust between the nsa and the maker's of said components to ensure the backdoor is there.
yet the funny thing is the dog in the movie escapes unscathed.
the place i work for has been doing that for years. either with vista or with the new machines coming with 7.
Also i have heard microsoft is allot more careful who they give review copy's of 7 out to now, looks like they desperately want it to be a success that they will make sure all the reviews are positive.
the book by that title has pointed this out for years.
though it is perfect security theater.
it has a scientific basis, and it can easily be spun by the media that the fear was caused by not wanting to be caught thus making it the accused's word against the cops and the media.
end result, the rest of the population thinks the government is doing it's job and swallows this willingly while it does nothing to stop a threat you can't really stop anyway and a whole lot of money is made by a few people.
incorrect. coal did not come from year to year decomposition of plants in temperate climates. Coal was formed mostly during the Carboniferous era in earth's past. at this time allot of the dry land was peat bog's and everglade's like swamps. year after year of leaf litter pressed down on the previous year's leaf litter preventing decomposition of the plants, add in a few million years of heat and pressure and the organic matter is carbonized thus forming coal.
give the current leaf litter in these area's today a few million years and the same heat and pressure and it will be transformed into coal.