They also said they needed a "pearl harbor" like event in advance to justify the invasion
Okay, I'll bite. I'm reading through Project for a New American Century looking for that smoking gun. Not finding it, I did a Google search for "Pearl Harbor" on the site, but I don't really see any such references. Lots of them on/after 2001-09-11, and lots of other references to that historic occassion, but noone saying that we needed another Pearl Harbor. Maybe you can pick through the Google results and find it, since I haven't been able to yet. I'll keep looking.
(This may be mildly off-topic, since this goes along with the DMCRA headlines too.)
My *friend* has a modded XBOX. It rocks. The problem is that a modded XBOX is illegal (thanks DMCA). This *friend* had to buy the chip from some company in China in order to do it. It's ridiculous.
<rant> The argument against allowing this is that it promotes piracy and thus, is bad for business. But he spent over $400 to buy the thing and modify it ($150 XBOX, $30 mod-chip, $20 shipping, $70 120GB HD, >$100 in games). But if the mod chip were not available, then he would have spent $0 since the device would not have been worth it.
So how is a consumer spending over $400 on goods and services bad for business? What's even more sad, is that this was Microsoft's opportunity to win-over geeks. If the MS sold an aftermarket add-on to do this stuff, then they would have had our business and our gratitude. </rant>
This is exactly why we need an instant run-off election, instead of a plurality-wins election. Then, none of this "split the vote" stuff can happen. Run-off's aren't perfect, but they are far better. Can someone please reply and give me a single reason why we shouldn't use a run-off voting system? I'm confused that there wasn't a groundswell asking for this change after the Bush-Perot-Clinton election.
If you buy an preinstalled system (Dell, HP, Gateway, etc.) the first thing I do is remove at least 10 programs. That includes several advertisements for online services, a few trial programs that lock you into saving a file that you can't open after 30 days, and then the complex OEM products that are more easily handled by freeware equivalents.
IMHO, manufacturers should package vanilla systems and let users learn to install applications they want, rather than have a start menu that is so large that the user must scroll to get to their office application. With XP, many users don't ever go beyond the MRU list on the start menu - so they only see
The patent looks really good. It seems to cover the process of applying a DCT to an 8x8 area, then adaptively transforming the coefficients and applying Huffman/run-length to the block. That sounds like JPEG in a bottle. This was published October 1987, so when was JPEG created? The patent isn't some overly broad phony stuff.
Oh, and it also talks about differencing the coefficients between frames. Thus, it may have some effect on MPEG as well as JPEG.
You are correct in your analysis of the variables, but Paulrothrock is pointing out that you can draw no conclusions from analyzing variables with unknown values. All you can do is optimize the worst-case scenario.
(1) Suppose that we act. For example, we limit coal burning and CO2 and methane emmissions. The worst-case result of this is that we waste our time.
(2) Suppose that we do not act. The worst-case result of this is a cataclysm.
Conclusion: (1) minimizes our risk. We should follow (1).
1) Sniff student passwords, then email the passwords to those students. Nothing is compromised since you are only emailing someone their own password, but that will bring the security flaw to their attention. If you do this enough, then a lot of people will get frustrated with the school.
2) Go to the CS department. There is probably some grad student who is doing a thesis on network sniffing or honeypots or wireless security or sometihng. Have THEM do the sniffing under the watchful eye of their faculty sponsor. That way, it is protected as research (well, as much as is possible these days) and the school can only blame themselves.
3) Okay, I said 2. Third is to go to the student government. Students going directly to the administration is seen as a challenge and they commonly to respond by stonewalling. The Student Government is the appropriate organization to lobby on behalf of the students.
This is going to far. I grant that these are the kinds of questions a user will ask, but they are not things that the computer can possibly tell them. This is why they need the facts, so that they can go to someone else and get those answers.
What is an io-slave and why were you trying to create it?
What is klauncher?
What is 'kio-audiocd'?
The computer cannot explain to them what an io-slave is or why it wanted to create it. If I write code that calls a function, and the function fails, it is reasonable to have the code report the function that failed, and what error it returned. But it is impossible to explain WHY the function was called. Even if the code could do that, the reason WHY is still not helpful to the user. The error message should display the facts, so that the user can go to a human or other semi-intelligent source (google, newsgroups) and determine this. Computers can only do -- they cannot exokain why. What you are asking for is beyond current computer science.
What are the likely causes of this error?
This is only reasonable if this is a common error, and there is an explicit error trap looking for it. An example might be an office application that relies on a third-party optional component. "Cannot run macro: Java version 1.4 or higher required. Please go to http://java.sun.com/download to obtain this package." This might be a reasonable error for OpenOffice to display if you try to launch a macro without Java installed. Great! But don't expect a table of every error, every reason it is called, and a list of possible suggestions. The only example of anything like this I've seen is the Microsoft Printer Wizard which asks "Did the job print" after a test page, then walks you through unplugging the printer, checking the paper, etc.
Look, I'm all for friendly error messages, but if fork() failed then what else can I say but "Unable to fork a process"?
I am VERY glad you asked. This is the very very crux of the issue. "Unable to fork a process" is EXACTLY the wrong thing to say.
The real question here is "What else can I say?" Your point is that you don't know why fork() failed. And you are 100% correct! The answer is that fork() should TELL YOU why it failed. I cannot stress this enough! fork() knows exactly what went wrong. Then you should display that in your message, along with any other relevant circumstances (what routine, maybe line #, maybe what ill-effect it will cause, etc.)
Let's say fork() tried to call a kernel function makeNewThread(). But it failed because that would exceed the thread limit for the current user. Then makeNewThread() should set the thread error status (I think it is perror) to 1234567 (which is the code for this condition). Fork() does not need to do anything except return a failure condition.
The applicaton should see that fork() returned an error, and simply call the POSIX function to take the error code and convert it to a string. It can then add on a note about the line # and any other mitigating information. Now, the user gets something like:
MyProgram error 1234567: "Thread limit exceeded."
This short message tells the user exactly what went wrong. If they don't understand it, that's okay -- they have the information they need to find out what happened.
If this error were something more common, then a nice application might say "Thread limit exceeded - try quitting some programs and trying again." But that isn't required. We are now in much better shape than "fork() failed."
The crucial point here is very simple: To get the best error messages possible, don't return a custom error message! SOOOO many functions get good error codes then instead set the error message tosomething generic and return. Or worse, they clear the thread error condition code set by the failing function, then return a generic -1 or something.
To beat the point even further I've worked on a number of Windows projects where the following code exists on every function:
Function DoSomethingImportant
TRY {
Do some work
Do some more work
Do yet more work
}
ERRORCATCH
{
DisplayError "Error in DoSomethingImportant!"
}
End Function
Without the above code, the user might see "Out of memory" which tells them exactly what went wrong. But with the above code they get "Error in DoSomethingImportant!" which is of no help at all! Sometimes, the best policy with errors is to simply do nothing, and let the top-level code tell the user exactly what went wrong. A nicer version of the above code would simply add new information on to the existing error message.
Demi, you have some seriously conflicting requirements here:
The primary features I'm looking for is power
However:
I don't want to fiddle with typesetting at all; and I want it to be minimal--in particular, I don't want to have to markup paragraphs
What you are asking for is what every user wants: "I need something that has all the features I want, but none of the features I don't want." It must be powerful -- but don't have anything unnecessary. Those things are in conflict.
Judging from some of your specifics, you sound very knowledgable on the subject of markup languages. It sounds like you are just sick of fiddling around with some of the more complex ones. You may also be the kind of person who winces when they think of the HTML produced by various office products. If my guess is correct, I suggest that you either: Acknowledge that nothing is perfect and simply open MS Word or OpenOffice and force yourself to accept them, or deal with the overcomplexity of the products you mentioned. I suppose a third possibility is to roll your own front-end for one of them.
I disagree. This is an above average (but not perfect) error message. Error messages should state:
1) That an error occurred. This part should be clean and readable to an end user. 2) The program, process, or whatever caused it. 3) The condition that caused the error. 4) The target that was being operated upon.
This error has #2 (klauncher) and #4 (kio-audiocd). It almost has #3 (Could not start process, unable to create io-slave). The only problem here is that it is not entirely helpful to say what you were not able to do, you must say what condition was not met. For example "Unable to open file foo.txt" is not helpful. But "File foo.txt does not exist" or "File foo.txt does not have write access" tells us exactly what we need to change to fix the problem. Similary, "Could not start process Unable to create io-slave" is not great. At least we know why the process could not start: it is because it could not create the io-slave kio-audiocd. Better might be "io-slave kio-audiocd reports access denied" or "kio-audiocd not found" or "signal 11 from kio-audiocd"
Anyhow, the point of an error message isn't to be pretty or grammatically correct. It is to provide the information necessary to identify and solve the problem. Better to have a cryptic message with all the info you need, than a long wordy grammitcally correct message that doesn't tell you anything. With the above error message, someone can call a technician, or a geek, or post on a forum, and the message is unique enough that they can get a relevant response. That is what is most important.
There is a rule that says that the longer a series goes on, no matter how good it is, it will never gain viewers, only lose. This rule applies to shows that have a complex evolving world, like Farscape. It is because viewers cannot comprehend the series unless they have been watching from the beginning. I watched the first season of Farscape, but after trying to rejoin it after a season or two, I was completely lost. Compare that with the Star Trek series', where you could pick-up from any season and get acquanted quite quickly. The ST world was much "simpler" and didn't evolve as much (it was more like a sitcom in this aspect). The Farscape world is just far too alien (IMHO, this is what made the series awesome).
This is the downside to the fictional-story-drama genre. Babylon 5 was similar.
Thus, the prognosis for Farscape is that it is over. You cannot regain the viewers you lost unless you somehow backtrack to a point where they can rejoin. I bet this show will do GREAT in syndication, when people can easily rewatch old episodes and catch-up.
This guy changed his name to Tronster in homage to the movie Tron and so that it would match his old BBS handle. Yes, his name is actually now Tronster. Okay, maybe it isn't as l337 as 7r0n513r, but still.
Maybe TurboTax has cleaned-up, but others have not:
I bought MathCad to assist with my Calculus homework. Much to my dismay, it also uses the same DRM that TurboTax used. There is a service that has to be running for Mathcad to work, and it created a few surrepticiously hidden directories under system32 and the root. I would not have bought the product if I knew it wanted a service running all the time.
For now, I just enable it when I'm working, and disable it otherwise. And to boot (no pun intended), the entire app requires Administrator access too (I can't fathom why.)
What can I do? There is no groundswell of complaints like what happened to Intuit. Do I call the company and complain? I doubt they will give me a refund. I already purchased the product, so I feel like I've unknowingly funded the digital mafia.
Under Clinton, most Americans saw their net worth grow. The prosperity of the average american was greater under Clinton then at anytime in the past.
100% Agreed - but please understand that 1) This isn't a good thing, and 2) this state of affairs had nothing to do with either of the two presidents in question.
Bill Clinton inherited something called the dot-com boom, which resulted in tremendous employment and profits. But it was a bubble that burst. It would be short-sighted of us to simply say that it was a good time economically. Clinton inherited the bubble as it filled. Bush inherited the bubble after it burst. Neither president had any effect on either of those two things.
Every upside has an equivalent downside. Instead of cheering whenever times go well, and booing when they go poorly, we should cheer when we reach the stable point. If the stock market goes through the roof, the government has a surplus, and unemployment is at 2%, maybe we should all demand a tax increase!:-) Nobody will ever do this, but it is the logical approach.
In addition, unless you are rich, you most likely have a higher overall tax burden now then you did under Clinton.
I'm sorry to be so harsh, but that statement is purely propoganda. Both the republicans and the democrats would disagree with it! The democrat party line isn't that Bush raised taxes on anyone - they acknowledge that everyone now has lower taxes. No question there. If you are going to argue against Bush, stick to truthful arguments, there are lots of valid ones. The basic counterargument against Bush's tax plan is that although he lowered them for everyone, he lowered them more on the rich - which means he is playing the trickle-down card.
Has anyone else noticed that no matter what president is in office or what they have done, most people claim that their taxes are now higher than before? Maybe the Chocolate ration will be raised again next month.
I was driving home today, thinking about DRM/Trusted Computing, etc, and scaring myself. Then, I see this show, and think great! What a great way to get people educated on technical issues!
I watched the pilot, and I would love it if I liked legal dramas. It had the typical relationship stuff, typical arguing in court stuff, and the politics stuff. It's all there. The show did not feature any quirky anorexic single women looking to get hitched, so I think the show is meant to be taken seriously.
Unfortunately, all the "futuristic" issues were Biotech: general cloning, cloning of embryos for parts, a fountain of youth pill (you look young, but still age), and a genetically enhanced lawyer who hid herself so wouldn't grow up shunned (shades of x-men, very very light shades though).
They really glossed-over the everyday technology issues: Doors open and close automatically, everything is pretty and clean, noone is fat, etc. They didn't even touch on computers, or cell phones, or integration of technology with life. I don't think DRM is going to appear on there at all.
Instead of complaining that the show is YALD (Yet Another Legal Drama), has anyone considered the possibility that there are clueful writers, and that Slashdot geeks could have a voice over the air? Wishful thinking, I know, but since this show will probably appeal to typical TV-watchers is just a plus really.
Understandably O'Donoghue was upset and tried to get in touch with the site's owners. "We emailed them via the contact page, which was the same as our own, and heard nothing back," he said.
Hmmmmm.... They emailed themselves to complain about the copy, eh? And heard nothing back? Well now, that makes sense.
From: webmaster@carenthusiast.com To: webmaster@carenthusiast.com Subject: You stole my site!
Give it back! ------- From: webmaster@carenthusiast.com To: webmaster@carenthusiast.com Subject: Re: You stole my site!
Conservatives love killing off all parts of government not associated with the military or law enforcement.
That's probably an accurate statement about Conservativism. They believe government exists to keep the peace and enforce the law, little more. But the space program is tied very closely to the military, and less directly, to law enforcement. So that part of things doesn't add-up.
I'm sure Bush would want nothing more than a 5 megawatt laser with a phase conjugate target tracking system that could destroy a human target from space. It's the perfect peacetime weapon.
Also, why does kill off the shuttle and ISS make a civilian space program viable? A better idea might be to have NASA assist other companies in developing space-faring gear, and with things such as the X-prize.
1) For audio streaming, why doesn't everyone just use MP3? What is the benefit of using other formats? I doubt the bandwidth savings is worth the hassle.
2) For video and audio streaming, why doesn't everyone just use.MP4? That's MPEG-4 + AAC audio, it's an ISO standard, etc etc. Same question as above.
The problem here is that Comcast is doing shutting down people's connections with no recourse to find out why or to re-enable it.
I received an email and an automated phone call from Comcast stating that I had an infected computer and I must clean it up. I was immediately pleased that they noticed, but frustrated that I could be infected. 5 PCs with varying OSs, all with firewalls and/or antivirus software, so I thought it was unlikely but possible. After doing a full scan I found no viruses.
So I called Comcast's 800 number. They said I need to call a different long-distance number. That number is an automated system with nothing but dead ends. If I select the option about "Viruses and spam emails" then it tells me to email abuse at comcast.net if I get a bad email. But I don't want to report a spam, I received a report. All the options did approximately the same thing: Told me something I already know then hung up. Several calls later, I used the "leave a message" option. A week goes by and I received no call back. I replied to the email but received no response. Nobody on the service number would talk to me about it.
So I receive another email telling me that my service may be disabled if I don't fix the problem. So what do I do now?
To top it off, this isn't the first time. About 8 months ago, Comcast calle and told me I was reported for sending spam. When the read me part of the SpamCop report (which they refused to do many times) it turned out to be a SpamCop report that my roommate made! We _reported_ the spam, we didn't _send_ it! After much arguing, the guy finally got it and left us alone. Mistakes happen, but what irks me the most is that they wanted to tell me I sent a spam, and make sure I corrected my behavior, but refused to tell me the source of the report, or what the email was, or when it was sent, or anything!
Below is the email Comcast sent me. It looks like a form email, with no specific statement about what went wrong.
***PLEASE READ FULLY***
Comcast has received complaints about your computer. We believe it may be:
* Infected with a virus
* Sending "spam" email that you are unaware of
* Allowing spammers to use your connection to send their spam
* Trying to infect other computers on the Internet with viruses
The health of your computer is your responsibility. Consult your computer's manufacturer if you are unable to remedy the situation.
***************
EXPLANATION
***************
This message was sent by the Comcast Network Abuse and Policy Observance Team. We investigate reports of Internet Abuse by our customers. We have received such a report identifying your computer.
The complaint(s) we have received were from other users of the Internet, who are receiving email from you, which they did not request. We understand that you may not be aware of any such email, and you will not see it in your normal email program.
Typically these types of emails are caused, or are allowed to be sent by, viruses. They are either trying to infect other user's computers, or they allow spammers to connect to YOUR computer to send their spam.
If you have anti-virus software on your computer, we recommend visiting the manufacturer's website to update it, as it may be out of date and unable to find the virus that's causing the problem. New viruses come out frequently, so it is important to update the software often, or automatically if possible. We also recommend a security software solution, such as a firewall to further restrict access to your system. Firewalls help to prevent such activity by allowing only the software and transactions that you choose to utilize your Internet connection.
If you are deliberately sending these emails, we ask you to stop. Further complaints will require us to suspend or even terminate your service.
If you have further questions or would like to notif
And I, for one, welcome our new hydraulic exoskeloton overlords. I'd like to remind them that as a trusted reader of Slashdot, I can be helpful in using the DMCA to round-up others to toil in their UC Berkeley classrooms.
This is a step in the right direction. We need this type of legislation ASAP. However, I should point out:
This bill establishes a criminal offense of unauthorized collection and disclosure
The problem is that much spyware explicitly tells the user what it is going to do: in the EULA. But how many users read the EULAs? How many people understand them? As a computer repairman for lots of moms, granny's, and kids, I can tell you that these people won't read the licenses even if I explain to them the importance.
the crime...by making available or providing access to computer software or an interactive computer service that collects identifying personal information and discloses such identifying personal information to persons other than the user without first giving the user notice.
Some interesting stuff
It's legal if you disclose it in the EULA
Making the software available is the crime: So hosting providers better watch out.
Malware and adware are still okay
"anonymous" usage info is still okay.
We privacy freaks now understand that "anonymous" usage information tied to "unidentifyable" facts like my sex, birthdate, and zip-code are sufficient to identify me when partnered with other databases.
The device would last exactly twice as long. You sound like you are disagreeing, but then you provide points that verify the statement. Let me just clarify:
More available amperage shouldn't result in more draw.
Correct.
Plugging your cellphone charger into a 15 amp circuit is the same as plugging it into a 20 amp. No matter what, it still draws the same power - less than one amp (or you have issues).
Correct.
Both points are irrelevant. Placing two batteries in parallel would cause the device to have twice as much power available to draw (The milliamp-hours would double) but since it draws it at the same rate (power draw = volts * amps) the result is twice the battery life.
And a quick link just because this subject is always taboo with lots of "experts." Check out How Batteries Work
Slashdot Mirror
As a big fan of high-quality fitness games such as DOA XBV, I hope that they got the jiggle right. :-)
(/me ducks to avoid attach from feminists, avid gamers, and real fitness professionals)
(This may be mildly off-topic, since this goes along with the DMCRA headlines too.)
My *friend* has a modded XBOX. It rocks. The problem is that a modded XBOX is illegal (thanks DMCA). This *friend* had to buy the chip from some company in China in order to do it. It's ridiculous.
<rant>
The argument against allowing this is that it promotes piracy and thus, is bad for business. But he spent over $400 to buy the thing and modify it ($150 XBOX, $30 mod-chip, $20 shipping, $70 120GB HD, >$100 in games). But if the mod chip were not available, then he would have spent $0 since the device would not have been worth it.
So how is a consumer spending over $400 on goods and services bad for business? What's even more sad, is that this was Microsoft's opportunity to win-over geeks. If the MS sold an aftermarket add-on to do this stuff, then they would have had our business and our gratitude.
</rant>
This is exactly why we need an instant run-off election, instead of a plurality-wins election. Then, none of this "split the vote" stuff can happen. Run-off's aren't perfect, but they are far better. Can someone please reply and give me a single reason why we shouldn't use a run-off voting system? I'm confused that there wasn't a groundswell asking for this change after the Bush-Perot-Clinton election.
If you buy an preinstalled system (Dell, HP, Gateway, etc.) the first thing I do is remove at least 10 programs. That includes several advertisements for online services, a few trial programs that lock you into saving a file that you can't open after 30 days, and then the complex OEM products that are more easily handled by freeware equivalents.
IMHO, manufacturers should package vanilla systems and let users learn to install applications they want, rather than have a start menu that is so large that the user must scroll to get to their office application. With XP, many users don't ever go beyond the MRU list on the start menu - so they only see
IANAPA (I am not a patent attorney).
The patent looks really good. It seems to cover the process of applying a DCT to an 8x8 area, then adaptively transforming the coefficients and applying Huffman/run-length to the block. That sounds like JPEG in a bottle. This was published October 1987, so when was JPEG created? The patent isn't some overly broad phony stuff.
Oh, and it also talks about differencing the coefficients between frames. Thus, it may have some effect on MPEG as well as JPEG.
No. You misunderstood.
You are correct in your analysis of the variables, but Paulrothrock is pointing out that you can draw no conclusions from analyzing variables with unknown values. All you can do is optimize the worst-case scenario.
(1) Suppose that we act. For example, we limit coal burning and CO2 and methane emmissions. The worst-case result of this is that we waste our time.
(2) Suppose that we do not act. The worst-case result of this is a cataclysm.
Conclusion: (1) minimizes our risk. We should follow (1).
Not necessarily. There is a 2 user evaluation license, but the EULA forbids production use. There is another F/OSS license. Check their pricing FAQ.
http://www.perforce.com/perforce/price.html
1) Sniff student passwords, then email the passwords to those students. Nothing is compromised since you are only emailing someone their own password, but that will bring the security flaw to their attention. If you do this enough, then a lot of people will get frustrated with the school.
2) Go to the CS department. There is probably some grad student who is doing a thesis on network sniffing or honeypots or wireless security or sometihng. Have THEM do the sniffing under the watchful eye of their faculty sponsor. That way, it is protected as research (well, as much as is possible these days) and the school can only blame themselves.
3) Okay, I said 2. Third is to go to the student government. Students going directly to the administration is seen as a challenge and they commonly to respond by stonewalling. The Student Government is the appropriate organization to lobby on behalf of the students.
This is only reasonable if this is a common error, and there is an explicit error trap looking for it. An example might be an office application that relies on a third-party optional component. "Cannot run macro: Java version 1.4 or higher required. Please go to http://java.sun.com/download to obtain this package." This might be a reasonable error for OpenOffice to display if you try to launch a macro without Java installed. Great! But don't expect a table of every error, every reason it is called, and a list of possible suggestions. The only example of anything like this I've seen is the Microsoft Printer Wizard which asks "Did the job print" after a test page, then walks you through unplugging the printer, checking the paper, etc.
I am VERY glad you asked. This is the very very crux of the issue. "Unable to fork a process" is EXACTLY the wrong thing to say.
The real question here is "What else can I say?" Your point is that you don't know why fork() failed. And you are 100% correct! The answer is that fork() should TELL YOU why it failed. I cannot stress this enough! fork() knows exactly what went wrong. Then you should display that in your message, along with any other relevant circumstances (what routine, maybe line #, maybe what ill-effect it will cause, etc.)
Let's say fork() tried to call a kernel function makeNewThread(). But it failed because that would exceed the thread limit for the current user. Then makeNewThread() should set the thread error status (I think it is perror) to 1234567 (which is the code for this condition). Fork() does not need to do anything except return a failure condition.
The applicaton should see that fork() returned an error, and simply call the POSIX function to take the error code and convert it to a string. It can then add on a note about the line # and any other mitigating information. Now, the user gets something like:
MyProgram error 1234567: "Thread limit exceeded."
This short message tells the user exactly what went wrong. If they don't understand it, that's okay -- they have the information they need to find out what happened.
If this error were something more common, then a nice application might say "Thread limit exceeded - try quitting some programs and trying again." But that isn't required. We are now in much better shape than "fork() failed."
The crucial point here is very simple: To get the best error messages possible, don't return a custom error message! SOOOO many functions get good error codes then instead set the error message tosomething generic and return. Or worse, they clear the thread error condition code set by the failing function, then return a generic -1 or something.
To beat the point even further I've worked on a number of Windows projects where the following code exists on every function:
Function DoSomethingImportant TRY { Do some work Do some more work Do yet more work } ERRORCATCH { DisplayError "Error in DoSomethingImportant!" } End FunctionWithout the above code, the user might see "Out of memory" which tells them exactly what went wrong. But with the above code they get "Error in DoSomethingImportant!" which is of no help at all! Sometimes, the best policy with errors is to simply do nothing, and let the top-level code tell the user exactly what went wrong. A nicer version of the above code would simply add new information on to the existing error message.
Demi, you have some seriously conflicting requirements here:
However:
What you are asking for is what every user wants: "I need something that has all the features I want, but none of the features I don't want." It must be powerful -- but don't have anything unnecessary. Those things are in conflict.
Judging from some of your specifics, you sound very knowledgable on the subject of markup languages. It sounds like you are just sick of fiddling around with some of the more complex ones. You may also be the kind of person who winces when they think of the HTML produced by various office products. If my guess is correct, I suggest that you either: Acknowledge that nothing is perfect and simply open MS Word or OpenOffice and force yourself to accept them, or deal with the overcomplexity of the products you mentioned. I suppose a third possibility is to roll your own front-end for one of them.
Good Luck.
I disagree. This is an above average (but not perfect) error message. Error messages should state:
1) That an error occurred. This part should be clean and readable to an end user.
2) The program, process, or whatever caused it.
3) The condition that caused the error.
4) The target that was being operated upon.
This error has #2 (klauncher) and #4 (kio-audiocd). It almost has #3 (Could not start process, unable to create io-slave). The only problem here is that it is not entirely helpful to say what you were not able to do, you must say what condition was not met. For example "Unable to open file foo.txt" is not helpful. But "File foo.txt does not exist" or "File foo.txt does not have write access" tells us exactly what we need to change to fix the problem. Similary, "Could not start process Unable to create io-slave" is not great. At least we know why the process could not start: it is because it could not create the io-slave kio-audiocd. Better might be "io-slave kio-audiocd reports access denied" or "kio-audiocd not found" or "signal 11 from kio-audiocd"
Anyhow, the point of an error message isn't to be pretty or grammatically correct. It is to provide the information necessary to identify and solve the problem. Better to have a cryptic message with all the info you need, than a long wordy grammitcally correct message that doesn't tell you anything. With the above error message, someone can call a technician, or a geek, or post on a forum, and the message is unique enough that they can get a relevant response. That is what is most important.
There is a rule that says that the longer a series goes on, no matter how good it is, it will never gain viewers, only lose. This rule applies to shows that have a complex evolving world, like Farscape. It is because viewers cannot comprehend the series unless they have been watching from the beginning. I watched the first season of Farscape, but after trying to rejoin it after a season or two, I was completely lost. Compare that with the Star Trek series', where you could pick-up from any season and get acquanted quite quickly. The ST world was much "simpler" and didn't evolve as much (it was more like a sitcom in this aspect). The Farscape world is just far too alien (IMHO, this is what made the series awesome).
This is the downside to the fictional-story-drama genre. Babylon 5 was similar.
Thus, the prognosis for Farscape is that it is over. You cannot regain the viewers you lost unless you somehow backtrack to a point where they can rejoin. I bet this show will do GREAT in syndication, when people can easily rewatch old episodes and catch-up.
Oh, and it doesn't matter because the US doesn't allow numbers in names
Maybe TurboTax has cleaned-up, but others have not:
I bought MathCad to assist with my Calculus homework. Much to my dismay, it also uses the same DRM that TurboTax used. There is a service that has to be running for Mathcad to work, and it created a few surrepticiously hidden directories under system32 and the root. I would not have bought the product if I knew it wanted a service running all the time.
For now, I just enable it when I'm working, and disable it otherwise. And to boot (no pun intended), the entire app requires Administrator access too (I can't fathom why.)
What can I do? There is no groundswell of complaints like what happened to Intuit. Do I call the company and complain? I doubt they will give me a refund. I already purchased the product, so I feel like I've unknowingly funded the digital mafia.
100% Agreed - but please understand that 1) This isn't a good thing, and 2) this state of affairs had nothing to do with either of the two presidents in question.
Bill Clinton inherited something called the dot-com boom, which resulted in tremendous employment and profits. But it was a bubble that burst. It would be short-sighted of us to simply say that it was a good time economically. Clinton inherited the bubble as it filled. Bush inherited the bubble after it burst. Neither president had any effect on either of those two things.
Every upside has an equivalent downside. Instead of cheering whenever times go well, and booing when they go poorly, we should cheer when we reach the stable point. If the stock market goes through the roof, the government has a surplus, and unemployment is at 2%, maybe we should all demand a tax increase! :-) Nobody will ever do this, but it is the logical approach.
I'm sorry to be so harsh, but that statement is purely propoganda. Both the republicans and the democrats would disagree with it! The democrat party line isn't that Bush raised taxes on anyone - they acknowledge that everyone now has lower taxes. No question there. If you are going to argue against Bush, stick to truthful arguments, there are lots of valid ones. The basic counterargument against Bush's tax plan is that although he lowered them for everyone, he lowered them more on the rich - which means he is playing the trickle-down card.
Has anyone else noticed that no matter what president is in office or what they have done, most people claim that their taxes are now higher than before? Maybe the Chocolate ration will be raised again next month.
I was driving home today, thinking about DRM/Trusted Computing, etc, and scaring myself. Then, I see this show, and think great! What a great way to get people educated on technical issues!
I watched the pilot, and I would love it if I liked legal dramas. It had the typical relationship stuff, typical arguing in court stuff, and the politics stuff. It's all there. The show did not feature any quirky anorexic single women looking to get hitched, so I think the show is meant to be taken seriously.
Unfortunately, all the "futuristic" issues were Biotech: general cloning, cloning of embryos for parts, a fountain of youth pill (you look young, but still age), and a genetically enhanced lawyer who hid herself so wouldn't grow up shunned (shades of x-men, very very light shades though).
They really glossed-over the everyday technology issues: Doors open and close automatically, everything is pretty and clean, noone is fat, etc. They didn't even touch on computers, or cell phones, or integration of technology with life. I don't think DRM is going to appear on there at all.
Instead of complaining that the show is YALD (Yet Another Legal Drama), has anyone considered the possibility that there are clueful writers, and that Slashdot geeks could have a voice over the air? Wishful thinking, I know, but since this show will probably appeal to typical TV-watchers is just a plus really.
Hmmmmm.... They emailed themselves to complain about the copy, eh? And heard nothing back? Well now, that makes sense.
That's probably an accurate statement about Conservativism. They believe government exists to keep the peace and enforce the law, little more. But the space program is tied very closely to the military, and less directly, to law enforcement. So that part of things doesn't add-up.
I'm sure Bush would want nothing more than a 5 megawatt laser with a phase conjugate target tracking system that could destroy a human target from space. It's the perfect peacetime weapon.
Also, why does kill off the shuttle and ISS make a civilian space program viable? A better idea might be to have NASA assist other companies in developing space-faring gear, and with things such as the X-prize.
2 Questions:
.MP4? That's MPEG-4 + AAC audio, it's an ISO standard, etc etc. Same question as above.
1) For audio streaming, why doesn't everyone just use MP3? What is the benefit of using other formats? I doubt the bandwidth savings is worth the hassle.
2) For video and audio streaming, why doesn't everyone just use
The problem here is that Comcast is doing shutting down people's connections with no recourse to find out why or to re-enable it.
I received an email and an automated phone call from Comcast stating that I had an infected computer and I must clean it up. I was immediately pleased that they noticed, but frustrated that I could be infected. 5 PCs with varying OSs, all with firewalls and/or antivirus software, so I thought it was unlikely but possible. After doing a full scan I found no viruses.
So I called Comcast's 800 number. They said I need to call a different long-distance number. That number is an automated system with nothing but dead ends. If I select the option about "Viruses and spam emails" then it tells me to email abuse at comcast.net if I get a bad email. But I don't want to report a spam, I received a report. All the options did approximately the same thing: Told me something I already know then hung up. Several calls later, I used the "leave a message" option. A week goes by and I received no call back. I replied to the email but received no response. Nobody on the service number would talk to me about it.
So I receive another email telling me that my service may be disabled if I don't fix the problem. So what do I do now?
To top it off, this isn't the first time. About 8 months ago, Comcast calle and told me I was reported for sending spam. When the read me part of the SpamCop report (which they refused to do many times) it turned out to be a SpamCop report that my roommate made! We _reported_ the spam, we didn't _send_ it! After much arguing, the guy finally got it and left us alone. Mistakes happen, but what irks me the most is that they wanted to tell me I sent a spam, and make sure I corrected my behavior, but refused to tell me the source of the report, or what the email was, or when it was sent, or anything!
Below is the email Comcast sent me. It looks like a form email, with no specific statement about what went wrong.
And I, for one, welcome our new hydraulic exoskeloton overlords. I'd like to remind them that as a trusted reader of Slashdot, I can be helpful in using the DMCA to round-up others to toil in their UC Berkeley classrooms.
This is a step in the right direction. We need this type of legislation ASAP. However, I should point out:
The problem is that much spyware explicitly tells the user what it is going to do: in the EULA. But how many users read the EULAs? How many people understand them? As a computer repairman for lots of moms, granny's, and kids, I can tell you that these people won't read the licenses even if I explain to them the importance.
Some interesting stuff
We privacy freaks now understand that "anonymous" usage information tied to "unidentifyable" facts like my sex, birthdate, and zip-code are sufficient to identify me when partnered with other databases.
Correct.
Correct.
Both points are irrelevant. Placing two batteries in parallel would cause the device to have twice as much power available to draw (The milliamp-hours would double) but since it draws it at the same rate (power draw = volts * amps) the result is twice the battery life.
And a quick link just because this subject is always taboo with lots of "experts." Check out How Batteries Work