Thanks for posting this. Looking at the Tibet/China issue, it was very hard to understand why there was such a disconnect between what "the West" perceives and what Chinese citizens perceive. There's definitely a parallel with nationalistic causes (it makes me think of the Iraq war run-up and aftermath here -- the "average person" was so fired up about it regardless of the evidence against it that was also being reported daily), but that certainly wasn't all of it. This really goes a long way to help me understand how the "average person" might be viewing this issue, and China's relationship with "the West." Thanks much!
And it works well. The Cuyahoga County Public Library system runs Citrix thin-client terminals at each branch which connect back to Citrix servers at their data center.
Both Internet access and library services are provided through the browser. Everyone seems very happy with it -- the terminal are always in use.
Just some tweaks to the interface. Every 500 wor words should be displayed on an individual sheet of e-paper (double-sided) with the PGDN and PGUP functions controlled by turning the page. Oh, and it should also be portable, and rely on solar energy for illumination.
The best certifications are those that test *real comprehension* -- certs along the lines of the CCIE, RHCE and your CDE that test skills, not memorization. I've taken 30 exams since 1989 -- done the CSE, CNE 2-6, ECNE, MCNE, MCSE -- and I know how utterly worthless they are. I mean, who cares if you can memorize and regurgitate arcane facts and settings? The point is comprehension, competence, and skills-building.
Whether you embrace the RHCE or roll a better one (I'll pass on the CLA -- it's just more memorization), it should:
- Cost the same as existing tests; ~$125, - Use a simulator, - Test setup and troubleshooting skills in a goal-oriented manner - Not involve travel over 100 miles away...and that's it! Prove that we know what we're doing, not that we can memorize the functions of certain filenames in the _NETWARE directory. PLEASE!
All of your contributions have given some good leads. I'm out digging into them now.
Slightly OT - Samba Clustering
on
Samba 3.0.0 Released
·
· Score: 2, Interesting
We've been waiting for this release as the version to start replacing Windows servers with. We'd like to build the farm clustered, however. From our research, it looks like clustering Samba can only be done with Mission Critical Linux' products. Anyone seen anything else out there that can also do the job?
>If it is hybrid it only adds weight, complexity >and increases maintenance costs and it cannot >recoup more then around 20% of the used energy.
Hybrids are not a dead end. Hybrid drivetrains will be used with fuel cells; hybrid development is therefore necessary to fuel cell technology. Fuel cell vehicles can only get about a 150-mile range today, so the hybrid drivetrain will be necessary to extend their range to equal conventional autos.
Also, the engineers that developed the Honda hybrids claim only a 19% *loss* of energy in regenerative braking.
I agree that they do add front-end and maintenance costs. There are parts in a hybrid that are not in a conventional engine.
However, with tax credits towards the purchase of a hybrid (I'd rather give it to Japan or U.S. car manufacturers than the Saudis under the points of U.S. bayonets), the initial costs are offset. Replacement batteries are expected to be $800 (they're ~$2500 now) in 3 years, which ain't bad. I think the trade-off is worth it.
is often an argument for not getting one, when calculated at list price. However, all you need to get is a $2000 tax credit (doable in many states, and will be doable in the entire U.S. if negotiations go right on the energy bill) or negotiate the price down $2000 (I did) to have the Honda Civic Hybrid cost the same as the Honda Civic EX. Therefore, this argument is only valid if you're actually going to get something that's around $4000 cheaper (Honda Civic DX with AM radio?)...
Often, though, after people disqualify a hybrid with the argument using list price, they go out and buy a mid-size Accord ($25,000, or $3K more) or an SUV ($35,000, or $15K more!) out of vanity for "how it makes them look."
If you'd like an argument for how something makes one look, compare the price of an SUV (~5 year depreciating asset) versus, say, a hybrid and plastic surgery. They're about the same cost, and I think one would make out better with the latter...
No, both Toyota and Honda have built many safety interlocks into the high-voltage battery systems. Fire crews just have to turn off the ignition to safely lock out the hybrid batteries for a rescue.
Have had it for a year, and learned a lot about them.
There are three hybrids being sold right now:
- Honda Civic Hybrid - Honda Insight - (2003) Toyota Prius
The Hondas use a gas engine as their primary engine with an electric engine (which doubles as a generator during braking) as a secondary source of acceleration. Think of this arrangement as a gas engine with a massive-battery-powered electric supercharger. If the electric engine fails, the gas engine will still get you there -- it just accelerates slower.
The Prius is the other way around -- its primary engine is electric, and a secondary gas engine gives it the acceleration. In the Prius, it is possible to drive (with very little gas pedal pressure) on electric alone -- something the Prius owners call "Zen driving." If the gas engine fails, you can still drive on the electric.
Reliability: I know people who own both a Honda Civic Hybrid (HCH) and a 2003 Prius. I personally own the HCH. I would have no hesitation in buying one again. I average 54 MPG in the summer, and 45 MPG in the winter. Range is ~600 miles per tank; I drive 50 miles a day, and fill up twice a month. I have heard that it is possible to get ~700 miles/tank in a Prius, but have never got a first hand report of that.
The Honda had one early bug with deep, cold weather -- very occasionally, the electric system would shut down and not restart until the car was shut down and restarted. A flash of the computer firmware fixed it. Many people reported this problem. It also had an issue with a squeak in a support pillar, fixed by shimming with a business card. Maintenance visits are scheduled for every 10000 miles. Gas mileage is better on the highway (51 mpg) than the city (49 mpg).
The 2003 Prius has had more problems. Issues were with "highway wandering" -- it feels like the car wants to migrate around the road -- and shaking of the steering wheel at low speeds. Cause: the entire power steering rack needed to be replaced. There's also the gas engine failure called the "Big Hand" that's fixed with a similar car reboot, but it's caused by the Accelerator Pedal Assembly needing to be replaced. Many people report that they've had both of these problems. Maintenance is more frequent at 7,500 miles. Gas mileage is better in the city (51 mpg) than the highway (49 mpg).
I don't know anyone who drives a Honda Insight. Supposedly they still make ~1500 of them a year, but rumor has it that Honda is going to be dropping them.
Near-term and Farther-out Models: The Prius has been out longer than the HCH, and is getting a technological refresh in 2004. The 2003 Prius and the HCH are both 4-seater compacts, but the 2004 Prius will be a mid-size, with better mileage (59 city, 51 highway) and better acceleration (0-60 in 10 instead of 12). There is currently a waiting list for them.
Cars/Trucks/SUVs due to be released as hybrids in 2004:
Honda Accord, Honda CR-V, Ford Escape
2004 or 2005: Chevy Silverado Saturn Vue GMC Suburban
Here's an in-depth look at Hybrid technology from the Union of Concerned Scientists (Google HTML translation here).
There is a federal tax deduction of $2000 for buying a new hybrid. Several states also offer their own tax deductions or credits -- check here to look them up. Some states (but not all) also let you drive them in their high occupancy lanes, even though you may only have one driver in it.
Oh, by the way -- I know that the 2003 Honda Civic Hybrids are
The approach to take is fair trade, not free trade. Free trade says things like "eventually, their standard of living will be raised," while fair trade says "pay them a wage that provides a standard of living comparable to where the job came from."
This provides a much more balanced outcome for all concerned, instead of the few old boys who are making all the consulting dollars off of the $5 an hour they're paying the poor schmucks.
SCO's market cap is only $110 million, and they want to settle for a billion? IBM could eat them for lunch, save 89%, and GPL the Unix source so it could never happen again. I'm not sweating one bit over this.
A long-running study from the University of Michigan's Institute for Social Research (published in the March issue of the journal Developmental Psychology) found that violence on TV did have a measurable, long-term effect both in males and females.
The study interviewed children between 6 and 9 years old, then checked back with them in their early 20s. It found "a heightened risk of agressive adult behavior, including spouse abuse and criminal offenses, no matter how they act in childhood."
While this study isn't about videogames, common sense says that the effect is inferred on related media. TV viewing is a passive medium; video games are much more immersive and probably have a larger effect. Sorry, but as a parent I'll continue to pay attention to game ratings.
Actually, nitrogen fertilizer is made from natural gas. Pesticides are made from oil. It does take, however, one gallon of oil to produce all of the pesticides used to grow 1 bushel of corn.
Try this on and see if it's not about oil. I'm convinced now.
And what's this talk about keeping the Iraqi and Kuwaiti oil fields? Are you talking about conquest and empire-building? Some do want that -- Dick Cheney is a signer, for example -- but the first Gulf War was a war for liberation. Bush Sr. was a believer of noblesse oblige, not a megalomaniac.
From a Businessweek article: 'More important, Hewlett-Packard (HPQ ), which dominates both the printer and the $7 billion toner market, has no intention of following Lexmark's course. "We believe in customer choice," says Pradeep Jotwani, the senior vice-president who heads HP's lucrative imaging-supplies business. "If they want to buy from remanufacturers, that's fine. It's our job to make them not want to."'
Definitely, volunteering is a method that works. Did a Linux-based system for a school, and there's no better teacher than necessity (as in, "Sure, I can do that!" Hmm...how am I gonna do that?), not to mention something that you can point to as a verifiable demonstration of your skills.
Slashdot Mirror
Thanks for everything you've done to bring computing to the masses!
What's your opinion on the effects of an eventual Singularity? Will it save us, destroy us, or meh, not so much of anything?
Sounds like another form of Godwin's law:
As nationalism increases, the probability of being pissed off at the French approaches one.
Thanks for posting this. Looking at the Tibet/China issue, it was very hard to understand why there was such a disconnect between what "the West" perceives and what Chinese citizens perceive. There's definitely a parallel with nationalistic causes (it makes me think of the Iraq war run-up and aftermath here -- the "average person" was so fired up about it regardless of the evidence against it that was also being reported daily), but that certainly wasn't all of it. This really goes a long way to help me understand how the "average person" might be viewing this issue, and China's relationship with "the West." Thanks much!
1. Embrace privacy with a preemptive federal law
2. Gut it with a concerted lobbyist effort
3. DRM
4. Profit!
And it works well. The Cuyahoga County Public Library system runs Citrix thin-client terminals at each branch which connect back to Citrix servers at their data center.
Both Internet access and library services are provided through the browser. Everyone seems very happy with it -- the terminal are always in use.
Just some tweaks to the interface. Every 500 wor words should be displayed on an individual sheet of e-paper (double-sided) with the PGDN and PGUP functions controlled by turning the page. Oh, and it should also be portable, and rely on solar energy for illumination.
herewhile you still can...
The best certifications are those that test *real comprehension* -- certs along the lines of the CCIE, RHCE and your CDE that test skills, not memorization. I've taken 30 exams since 1989 -- done the CSE, CNE 2-6, ECNE, MCNE, MCSE -- and I know how utterly worthless they are. I mean, who cares if you can memorize and regurgitate arcane facts and settings? The point is comprehension, competence, and skills-building.
...and that's it! Prove that we know what we're doing, not that we can memorize the functions of certain filenames in the _NETWARE directory. PLEASE!
Whether you embrace the RHCE or roll a better one (I'll pass on the CLA -- it's just more memorization), it should:
- Cost the same as existing tests; ~$125,
- Use a simulator,
- Test setup and troubleshooting skills in a goal-oriented manner
- Not involve travel over 100 miles away
All of your contributions have given some good leads. I'm out digging into them now.
We've been waiting for this release as the version to start replacing Windows servers with. We'd like to build the farm clustered, however. From our research, it looks like clustering Samba can only be done with Mission Critical Linux' products. Anyone seen anything else out there that can also do the job?
The batteries are Nickel Metal Hydride (NiMH), not lead/acid. NiMH batteries can be landfilled legally.
Hybrids use Nickel Metal Hydride (NiMH) batteries which are safe to landfill. There are no environmental issues with hybrid batteries.
Motorcycle: Much cooler ride.
Hybrid mileage: Kicks a Harley's ass. Harley's get 30-40 MPG. My hybrid gets 54 MPG. And I can drive it in the snow and rain.
>If it is hybrid it only adds weight, complexity
>and increases maintenance costs and it cannot
>recoup more then around 20% of the used energy.
Hybrids are not a dead end. Hybrid drivetrains will be used with fuel cells; hybrid development is therefore necessary to fuel cell technology. Fuel cell vehicles can only get about a 150-mile range today, so the hybrid drivetrain will be necessary to extend their range to equal conventional autos.
Also, the engineers that developed the Honda hybrids claim only a 19% *loss* of energy in regenerative braking.
I agree that they do add front-end and maintenance costs. There are parts in a hybrid that are not in a conventional engine.
However, with tax credits towards the purchase of a hybrid (I'd rather give it to Japan or U.S. car manufacturers than the Saudis under the points of U.S. bayonets), the initial costs are offset. Replacement batteries are expected to be $800 (they're ~$2500 now) in 3 years, which ain't bad. I think the trade-off is worth it.
is often an argument for not getting one, when calculated at list price. However, all you need to get is a $2000 tax credit (doable in many states, and will be doable in the entire U.S. if negotiations go right on the energy bill) or negotiate the price down $2000 (I did) to have the Honda Civic Hybrid cost the same as the Honda Civic EX. Therefore, this argument is only valid if you're actually going to get something that's around $4000 cheaper (Honda Civic DX with AM radio?)...
Often, though, after people disqualify a hybrid with the argument using list price, they go out and buy a mid-size Accord ($25,000, or $3K more) or an SUV ($35,000, or $15K more!) out of vanity for "how it makes them look."
If you'd like an argument for how something makes one look, compare the price of an SUV (~5 year depreciating asset) versus, say, a hybrid and plastic surgery. They're about the same cost, and I think one would make out better with the latter...
No, both Toyota and Honda have built many safety interlocks into the high-voltage battery systems. Fire crews just have to turn off the ignition to safely lock out the hybrid batteries for a rescue.
Have had it for a year, and learned a lot about them.
There are three hybrids being sold right now:
- Honda Civic Hybrid
- Honda Insight
- (2003) Toyota Prius
The Hondas use a gas engine as their primary engine with an electric engine (which doubles as a generator during braking) as a secondary source of acceleration. Think of this arrangement as a gas engine with a massive-battery-powered electric supercharger. If the electric engine fails, the gas engine will still get you there -- it just accelerates slower.
The Prius is the other way around -- its primary engine is electric, and a secondary gas engine gives it the acceleration. In the Prius, it is possible to drive (with very little gas pedal pressure) on electric alone -- something the Prius owners call "Zen driving." If the gas engine fails, you can still drive on the electric.
Reliability:
I know people who own both a Honda Civic Hybrid (HCH) and a 2003 Prius. I personally own the HCH. I would have no hesitation in buying one again. I average 54 MPG in the summer, and 45 MPG in the winter. Range is ~600 miles per tank; I drive 50 miles a day, and fill up twice a month. I have heard that it is possible to get ~700 miles/tank in a Prius, but have never got a first hand report of that.
The Honda had one early bug with deep, cold weather -- very occasionally, the electric system would shut down and not restart until the car was shut down and restarted. A flash of the computer firmware fixed it. Many people reported this problem. It also had an issue with a squeak in a support pillar, fixed by shimming with a business card. Maintenance visits are scheduled for every 10000 miles. Gas mileage is better on the highway (51 mpg) than the city (49 mpg).
The 2003 Prius has had more problems. Issues were with "highway wandering" -- it feels like the car wants to migrate around the road -- and shaking of the steering wheel at low speeds. Cause: the entire power steering rack needed to be replaced. There's also the gas engine failure called the "Big Hand" that's fixed with a similar car reboot, but it's caused by the Accelerator Pedal Assembly needing to be replaced. Many people report that they've had both of these problems. Maintenance is more frequent at 7,500 miles. Gas mileage is better in the city (51 mpg) than the highway (49 mpg).
I don't know anyone who drives a Honda Insight. Supposedly they still make ~1500 of them a year, but rumor has it that Honda is going to be dropping them.
Near-term and Farther-out Models:
The Prius has been out longer than the HCH, and is getting a technological refresh in 2004. The 2003 Prius and the HCH are both 4-seater compacts, but the 2004 Prius will be a mid-size, with better mileage (59 city, 51 highway) and better acceleration (0-60 in 10 instead of 12). There is currently a waiting list for them.
Cars/Trucks/SUVs due to be released as hybrids in 2004:
Honda Accord,
Honda CR-V,
Ford Escape
2004 or 2005:
Chevy Silverado
Saturn Vue
GMC Suburban
Here's an in-depth look at Hybrid technology from the Union of Concerned Scientists (Google HTML translation here).
Here's the best description of what it's like to drive one.
There is a federal tax deduction of $2000 for buying a new hybrid. Several states also offer their own tax deductions or credits -- check here to look them up. Some states (but not all) also let you drive them in their high occupancy lanes, even though you may only have one driver in it.
Oh, by the way -- I know that the 2003 Honda Civic Hybrids are
The approach to take is fair trade, not free trade. Free trade says things like "eventually, their standard of living will be raised," while fair trade says "pay them a wage that provides a standard of living comparable to where the job came from."
This provides a much more balanced outcome for all concerned, instead of the few old boys who are making all the consulting dollars off of the $5 an hour they're paying the poor schmucks.
They've done it, and with lots more than sea water...
SCO's market cap is only $110 million, and they want to settle for a billion? IBM could eat them for lunch, save 89%, and GPL the Unix source so it could never happen again. I'm not sweating one bit over this.
A long-running study from the University of Michigan's Institute for Social Research (published in the March issue of the journal Developmental Psychology) found that violence on TV did have a measurable, long-term effect both in males and females.
The study interviewed children between 6 and 9 years old, then checked back with them in their early 20s. It found "a heightened risk of agressive adult behavior, including spouse abuse and criminal offenses, no matter how they act in childhood."
While this study isn't about videogames, common sense says that the effect is inferred on related media. TV viewing is a passive medium; video games are much more immersive and probably have a larger effect. Sorry, but as a parent I'll continue to pay attention to game ratings.
Actually, nitrogen fertilizer is made from natural gas. Pesticides are made from oil. It does take, however, one gallon of oil to produce all of the pesticides used to grow 1 bushel of corn.
Try this on and see if it's not about oil. I'm convinced now.
And what's this talk about keeping the Iraqi and Kuwaiti oil fields? Are you talking about conquest and empire-building? Some do want that -- Dick Cheney is a signer, for example -- but the first Gulf War was a war for liberation. Bush Sr. was a believer of noblesse oblige, not a megalomaniac.
From a Businessweek article: 'More important, Hewlett-Packard (HPQ ), which dominates both the printer and the $7 billion toner market, has no intention of following Lexmark's course. "We believe in customer choice," says Pradeep Jotwani, the senior vice-president who heads HP's lucrative imaging-supplies business. "If they want to buy from remanufacturers, that's fine. It's our job to make them not want to."'
Definitely, volunteering is a method that works. Did a Linux-based system for a school, and there's no better teacher than necessity (as in, "Sure, I can do that!" Hmm...how am I gonna do that?), not to mention something that you can point to as a verifiable demonstration of your skills.