No no...go right ahead and finish that thought because it seems you were right on target.
Used car sales didn't kill the US auto industry. There has been a used car market since the automobile started being widely sold.
A combination of government interference through CAFE standards, EPA emissions standards, a host of other regulations going far past the point of reasonableness, along with greedy unions and poor management of the US car companies thrown into the mix killed/is killing the US car companies.
They ended up producing crappy, overpriced cars that not enough people wanted to buy due to the above causes. Now the taxpayers (you and me) will simply pay them through taxes to keep producing ever-more-crappy, ever-more-overpriced cars that not enough people want to buy.
Fox News isn't exactly profitable. The purpose of Fox News is not to make profit, but to make the political situation in the countries they operate in more favorable to Rupert Murdoch and News Corp, which can save costs elsewhere in the company with tax breaks, reduced regulations, and the like.
Are you kidding me!?!? Fox News revenues are one of the main things keeping News Corp. profitable!
News Corp. is reporting a 29.6% decline in first quarter net profit, saying all media companies are being tested and the year ahead will be difficult.
One highlight: cable network programming operating income is up 31%. According to the report, that growth is "led by affiliate and advertising revenue gains at the Fox News Channel, FX and the Big Ten Network, as well as continued expansion of the Fox International Channels."
Seems like Fox News Channel revenues are a major reason for News Corp. remaining in the black.
Love them or hate them, the Fox News Channel is a ratings giant...far outstripping all the other news channels combined for most demographics and prime timespots. Advertisers will pay for those eyes.
This is my thought also. Everything hardwired right into the silicon including DRM, TPM, unique ID hashes for tracking, and plenty of government/law enforcement back-doors. It would also take care of all those pesky open source operating systems and enable lockout of "unauthorized" applications. Nice, safe (from the governments' and big-corps' view) computers for the masses.
Did not not even bother to read the summary?
He says he wants to do this using O-P-E-N S-O-U-R-C-E
FTFS: " but Keir Thomas claims he's found a way forward -- and it's one that involves exclusively open source"
Right there plain as day...
I mean if you can't figure out how to flash or compile the source code for your own bios then that is your problem, but don't say its DRM because you can't bother to learn how to do that.
*I* personally would have no problem.
However...
If the idea takes off at all it wouldn't be long before proprietary vendors adopt and embrace/extend it. I'd also be truly surprised if they didn't find a way to kill off the open-source solutions, at least for all practical purposes as far as the mainstream market is concerned.
I would hate to have the BIOS as the OS especially if I could not replace it.
This is my thought also. Everything hardwired right into the silicon including DRM, TPM, unique ID hashes for tracking, and plenty of government/law enforcement back-doors. It would also take care of all those pesky open source operating systems and enable lockout of "unauthorized" applications. Nice, safe (from the governments' and big-corps' view) computers for the masses.
No due process required here, your contract states that your service can be changed/cancelled for ANY reason.
Not saying its morally right, but don't mix a civil contract with criminal law.
You and the person that posted essentially the same sentiment above aren't getting it. If it was just $RANDOMISP doing this as part of their TOS that's one thing.
This is a proposed LAW, ENFORCED BY GOVERNMENT, REQUIRING DISCONNECTION WITHOUT LEGAL RECOURSE, UPON MERE ACCUSATION BY A PRIVATE ENTITY.
A *LAW*.
With NO RECOURSE.
In which a PRIVATE PARTY can convict anyone by MERE ACCUSATION.
Not a TOS.
Not a contract.
THAT is what is at issue.
I know this is/. and to RTFA is anathema, but for $DEITY's sake, at least have a clue about the general topic upon which you comment, OK? Hmm?
And when they are beaten in the marketplace they go running to their friends in government to strongarm their competition.
Wait. What competition? What strong-arming? As far as I can remember from reading slashdot, one of the most anti-**AA sites on the internet, the one and only drum they have been banging is the anti-piracy drum. I don't remember hearing of any government help to eliminate legitimate competition.
I guess you missed the/. pieces about the attempt to strangle/kill internet radio, where independent artists have a chance to be heard by a wide audience?
I guess you also missed the part where they passed a law to force the internet radio stations to pay royalties to SoundExchange for independent artists' work unless they could show a contract for each separate indy artist?
That SoundExchange could legally keep a portion of said indy artists' royalties as "expenses" for performing the unasked-for and unwanted (by the indy artists/internet radio stations) task of grabbing royalties from internet radio stations in the name of independent artists?
Not sure what the MPAA has done to stifle competition, as there isn't a whole lot of that in the same way there is in music. However, the RIAA has been hard at work buying laws to stifle independent artists and their distribution channels.
Yeah, how many *nix-using geek guitar amp builders can there be, right?
Well, good to see you here. BTW, I use a number of different OS's...Linux, Free/Net/OpenBSD, A little Solaris, and even IRIX Unix in my SGI Octane R12000 workstation. I've even gone as far as playing with Plan9 from Bell Labs.
Good luck with the amp(s)! See you around the Weber forum.
Hmmm..Ari..might you be "iamtheari" from the Weber forums by any chance?
Just curious...I'm a frequent poster there and your slashname is somewhat similar to the name in quotes who is an amp builder and poster there that I've recently replied to/helped.
...use the system and gain what you want legitimately, instead of trying to sidestep it like a teenager.
The problem being that it can be fairly argued that the system is corrupt, owned by those interests with much much larger reserves of wealth. In a system in which you get as much justice as you can afford when it's working relatively normally & well, then adding in the additional corruption, the chances of the average non-wealthy, non-lawyer individual coming out ahead against said wealthy interests in court are slim.
Yeah, except the last time a Democrat was President of the U.S. didn't they burn done some compound in Texas because they wouldn't let the ATF in on a "child abuse" warrant? (hint: the ATF doesn't have jurisdiction in child abuse cases)
Yeah, and how many ATF agents were killed & wounded?
I'm not sure the ATF really wants to play that type of scenario out in Texas on a large scale. They'd run out of agents long before Texas ran out of Texans or ammo. I don't think even the Democrats are nutty enough to start dropping MOABs or tactical nukes in the continental US on our own citizens.
Then again, I could be wrong. I didn't think they'd send in tanks and use incendiaries in Waco or shoot an unarmed woman with a baby in her arms at Ruby Ridge, either.
Funny how that works. Don't want to make radical Muslims that have attacked and killed Americans many many times and want to kill everyone that aren't them uncomfortable by yelling at them, but inconvenient citizens are open-season with a bulls-eye on their backs.
Ask 'kash' on the #gentoo-mips channel of Freenode for some IRIX disc images. There's a VMware appliance called DINA to let you netboot them easily and install IRIX without a SCSI CDROM.
Yeah, I grabbed a copy of DINA 1.0 from a Nekoware mirror. I just hope this old PC can handle the VMWare Player etc, as it's an old 2.0gHz P4 with only 768MB of RAM. If not, I may have to attempt to convince my friend (the sax player in my blues band) to loan me his dual-core laptop with 3.5GB of RAM.:P
I *did* find the IRIX 6.5 base install.ISO images and extras on Demonoid and also the 6.5.30 upgrade.ISO images also. I haven't decided yet if I want to go that route, as I'm loathe to pirate stuff. It may end up being my only option though if I can't convince SGI to help without a boatload of cash.
Not to mention, very few people wanted to run IRIX outside of SGI systems.
Well, as someone who owns an Octane R12000 300mHz 64 bit machine (CMNB015ANG300) plus matching SGI 20-inch monitor (Sony GDM-4011P) I purchased used (and very cheap!:D ) from a fellow-LUG member who basically gave up on learning its' ins-and-outs, it would be great to have IRIX et al open-sourced. The Octane is quite the machine at ~54 pounds, and is still impressive in many areas despite being over 10 years old.
I didn't receive the base install or upgrade discs with the machine as he didn't have them either, so I've had to live with some quirks left over from non-IRIX/Unix-familiar previous owners' dabbling with and in the system rather than doing a nice clean install. I just can't see spending somewhere around $600 for a license plus media for the IRIX 6.5 base install plus extra to bring it up to version 6.5.30.
Heck, I've still not located a decently-priced (~$175 is too expensive IMO, especially considering I paid $25 total for the Octane & monitor) Octane/IRIX-compatible external SCSI CDROM.
MAFIAA would really like an old school favour from the US gov. The talking to the "nordic" zone got about copy'law' was just the start. Next would come slight changes in the ways the US gov sees on country. Gone are the days easy access. Simple gov to gov transactions seem to take more time, things get lost. On the covert side, small parties and the opposition seem to have found more funding and a louder voice. The press is filled with the kind of news never seen before. Accurate information about sitting members of the gov. Slush funds exposed. Links to the far left, right and faith based cults. Bribes and deals that where 'over' a decade old, hidden and accepted, be come front page as new information leaks. Comedy shows are relentless on a political family name, up and down the family tree, until the wider population will be giggling for three decades. Gov fails, and new elections are called. A night of protest, parties and violence. Tame police watch the radio room and squad cars are a bit further away from a zone of interest. There is a sound, its called in. Orchestrated confusion and a set of well timed prank calls ensures the police will be late due to distance. A series of break ins at tech sites. The next day its just another story.
The Swedes, being no fools, see what the US is covertly attempting. Not only do they retaliate by suggesting Swiss banks suddenly start having "problems" with US big-players' Swiss bank accounts...access problems, sudden "accidental" account balance zeroing that will "take time to correct", accidental leaks of account owners' ID's and histories of payments made to shady persons & organizations and/or for shady purposes, etc.
They also take it straight to the WTO and gain the right, as Antigua did, to freely ignore US copyright laws and possibly much more. Thousands of "Pirate Bays" spring up suddenly protected by Swiss and international laws & organizations.
How much US debt do the Swiss hold? If they hold a significant amount, they could suddenly decide to dump all those US Treasury Bills, and with the current situation with China not wanting to buy any more US debt to finance our huge deficit spending/"stimulus"/bailouts anymore, the impact on the international market for US Treasury Bills could be significant and painful.
The Swiss are quite capable of making the US government and the big players in and behind it pay very very dearly. Probably to the point that the US government would rethink its' backing of US "Big Media" in this instance as just too costly both financially & politically.
That won't work. Those devices log location to memory without transmitting. If they use wireless download it is a brief transmission.
Did you even bother to read my reply to budgenator who made the exact same point above before posting?
As far as the police ever getting the bright idea to attach one of these things to *my* vehicle without a warrant, I hope they aren't too disappointed when they come back and find the unit missing. I'll simply chop the thing to bits and dispose of it and deny any knowledge of it if asked. I'll bet the investigators would get hell for losing one of those things, as they can't be cheap.
Besides, why would any LEO go to all that trouble unless they feel they have a reason to track someone.
Oh, I dunno...maybe they're related to Drew Peterson? Of course they have a reason. Just *what* that reason is, and whether it's legal or even has anything to do with legitimate law enforcement is another story.
If this judge is elected, I wonder how he'd feel about needing a warrant to attach a tracker if his political opponents were to track *him* and publish any embarrassing information obtained in a political/election advertisement? Heck, even if he's not elected, take out an advertisement in the newspaper or simply post flyers around the city with the info as well as publishing it on the 'net. I'd bet he would reconsider his decision then.
One of the best educational experiences of my life was when my (public) high school calculus and physics teachers coordinated together so that you would learn calculus we needed as we were learning physics (surely Newton would approve). That way you could learn integration one hour, and find out how to use integration to solve kinetics with velocity and acceleration in the next hour.
I always thought that's how school should work, and it's great to hear that someone, somewhere, is actually doing it that way. Why isn't this more widespread though?
That would require teachers and school administration that cared. It would also generally require the teachers' unions and the government to encourage it nationwide.
If this was implemented on a national scale it could lead to a much better-educated public with analytical thinking skills. Which is precisely what those in power *don't* want. Better for them if the population is under-educated, low-income, drug-addicted, and filled with hatred over wedge issues like abortion, gay marriage, class warfare, and 2-party politics.
It's much easier to divide and conquer when your targets don't understand division, can't spell "conquer", and have never heard of Sun Tzu.
Police got a warrant to put a GPS on his car and secretly attached it while the vehicle was parked in Sveum's driveway. The device recorded his car's movements for five weeks before police retrieved it and downloaded the information. Wisconsin court upholds GPS tracking by police
The tracker is a receiver/recorder, unless the IF is leaking badly, the field strength meter is useless.
Most of the smaller/cheaper GPS receivers that I've seen aren't all that well shielded and would leak enough of the LO (local oscillator) from the receivers' mixer to be detectable within 2-3 feet by an amplified FSM, which is what I was thinking.
What we ought to be asking for is for some clever engineering/. reader to develop and market a device that can find a GPS unit on your vehicle.
Already done, and cheaply. Just purchase an R.F. field strength meter, a common tool for those in amateur radio and radio communications in general. There are a wide variety of models and price-points.
They are relatively simple and cheap to build yourself, especially for frequencies under 500mHz. Here's a rather fancy LED-bar indicator design with plenty of sensitivity and good to ~2gHz that won't break the bank found in a Google search:
The hidden partition isn't terribly helpful when the drive fails or the partition table becomes corrupted...
Well, to be fair it IS helpful.
But only to MS's sales numbers when the poor sap buys a retail copy, or at least thinks s/he has to buy a retail copy and doesn't bother researching any alternatives. Which is probably a large enough number of extra sales to more than make up for support costs and customer dissatisfaction resulting from this scheme in MS's eyes.
I tell family and close friends that ask me about and/or want me to be available to help them with their Windows machine that they'll have to buy an external HDD first. I explain to them about disk imaging and give them a choice of either learning how to make relatively-current backup images themselves, or let me do it maybe every 2-3 months when I get the time, which means they may lose that much of their data.
Many of them, once they've seen me back up a disc image then restore it, are amazed and then want to learn to do it themselves, which saves me much hassle and wasted time and them much frustration and money. Win-win!
It's no use, Attila. It's like a religion, there's nothing that anyone can say that will convince people who are "true believers".
Many of the "true believers" are scientists as well.
I found it extremely apropos that the MOTD at the bottom of this page was:
"Heavier than air flying machines are impossible." -- Lord Kelvin, President, Royal Society, c. 1895
So when these "true believers" quote various scientists and scientific/climate-study groups as citations, I am singularly unimpressed.
I still hold to my original assertion that we lack both detailed practical & theoretical knowledge about the large number of semi-chaotic interactive systems involved in global climate, as well as enough accurate raw climate data over a sufficiently-long period to make any models or theories even remotely reliable had we that capability in the first place.
Certainly not reliable enough to take major actions that could and very likely would have major negative effects on societies, causing much human suffering and probably a fair number of indirect deaths, as well as possibly causing disastrous unforeseen climatological outcomes that may dwarf any problems we fear presently.
But, hey...as long as Al Gore can make a mint with his carbon-credit trading house scheme and the liberal-progressives can increase the size of government, make it more socialist, and turn the USA into another two-bit country that has little say in world affairs while increasing their control over every aspect of the populations' lives, then it's all good, no?
Really...I'm not trolling here. It's just that I've been alive long enough and educated well enough to see a scam when one is staring me in the face, and I'm also too old to bother too much with trying to save dangerous idiots' internet-feelings from being hurt.
As someone who has some knowledge of climate science:
you're just flat wrong.. deal with it
Al?
Al Gore, is that you, you jet-setting environmentalist?
But anyway...
No, *you're* just flat wrong..deal with it.
Gee, that sure proves a lot. How does this work? Is it the one who fails to post back "No, *you're* wrong!" first the loser? It's been a long time since I played playground games. I've gotten used to adult reasoning and discussion methods this past half-century or so, so I find myself at a disadvantage here..sorry.
It is fortunate that bluestrat has a kind and eloquent mentor such as yourself to help them learn the errors of their way.
That was my point.
My lawn.
Off it you will get.
.
Now, for all those calling *my* post a troll...what exactly was the OPs' post I replied to?
Insightful? Interesting?
Please.::facepalm::
The whole "climate change/global warming/P.C. term du jour" can be summed up quite succinctly with two words:
Insufficient Data.
There simply is not enough data or the computing power to calculate what (if anything of significance) we are currently doing to the climate or what any measures we may take would or could do. We could already be doing the best thing we could reasonably/practically be doing to keep world climate as steady as we are capable of. The programs being seriously suggested may have exactly the opposite effect on global climate than what is intended.
We don't know enough of the rules and principles guiding global climate, nor do we possess enough data to even be certain of what's gone on past a century or two back. We certainly don't have enough to be able to make predictions on what will happen, or what effect any actions we may take will have, if any.
Maybe in another century or two, we *might* have enough knowledge, understanding, and also sufficient data to *begin* to understand our planets' climate systems. Until then, anything we do may be the wrong thing and at this point, the politicians jumping on the whole "climate change" bandwagon (like Al Gore who stands to make a LOT of money from cap-and-trade) are there to increase their own and governments' power over the people, and rob more wealth from those who actually are productive members of humanity.
Slashdot Mirror
Car resales didn't kill the ...
Oh, wait a minute....
No no...go right ahead and finish that thought because it seems you were right on target.
Used car sales didn't kill the US auto industry. There has been a used car market since the automobile started being widely sold.
A combination of government interference through CAFE standards, EPA emissions standards, a host of other regulations going far past the point of reasonableness, along with greedy unions and poor management of the US car companies thrown into the mix killed/is killing the US car companies.
They ended up producing crappy, overpriced cars that not enough people wanted to buy due to the above causes. Now the taxpayers (you and me) will simply pay them through taxes to keep producing ever-more-crappy, ever-more-overpriced cars that not enough people want to buy.
Strat
Fox News isn't exactly profitable. The purpose of Fox News is not to make profit, but to make the political situation in the countries they operate in more favorable to Rupert Murdoch and News Corp, which can save costs elsewhere in the company with tax breaks, reduced regulations, and the like.
Are you kidding me!?!? Fox News revenues are one of the main things keeping News Corp. profitable!
See here: http://www.mediabistro.com/tvnewser/fnc/news_corp_profit_falls_30_gains_at_fox_news_help_99799.asp
From the link:
News Corp. is reporting a 29.6% decline in first quarter net profit, saying all media companies are being tested and the year ahead will be difficult.
One highlight: cable network programming operating income is up 31%. According to the report, that growth is "led by affiliate and advertising revenue gains at the Fox News Channel, FX and the Big Ten Network, as well as continued expansion of the Fox International Channels."
Seems like Fox News Channel revenues are a major reason for News Corp. remaining in the black.
Love them or hate them, the Fox News Channel is a ratings giant...far outstripping all the other news channels combined for most demographics and prime timespots. Advertisers will pay for those eyes.
Strat
Being controversial means advertisers don't want to be associated with your paper.
Yeah, that's why the Fox News Channel is so vanilla-PC and non-controversial, otherwise they'd get zero ad revenue.
Strat
Hubble uses spectroscopy to do that. I don't think you can use that method to pick one person out of a crowd.
Why not?
All you'd have to do is heat the crowd until they're glowing so as to give off enough light to analyze.
Or is that a problem?
Strat
I was going to post a comment about careful consideration before forking, but found the /. MOTD at the bottom of the page already did my work for me:
"Be sure to evaluate the bird-hand/bush ratio."
Strat
This is my thought also. Everything hardwired right into the silicon including DRM, TPM, unique ID hashes for tracking, and plenty of government/law enforcement back-doors. It would also take care of all those pesky open source operating systems and enable lockout of "unauthorized" applications. Nice, safe (from the governments' and big-corps' view) computers for the masses.
Did not not even bother to read the summary?
He says he wants to do this using O-P-E-N S-O-U-R-C-E
FTFS: " but Keir Thomas claims he's found a way forward -- and it's one that involves exclusively open source"
Right there plain as day...
I mean if you can't figure out how to flash or compile the source code for your own bios then that is your problem, but don't say its DRM because you can't bother to learn how to do that.
*I* personally would have no problem.
However...
If the idea takes off at all it wouldn't be long before proprietary vendors adopt and embrace/extend it. I'd also be truly surprised if they didn't find a way to kill off the open-source solutions, at least for all practical purposes as far as the mainstream market is concerned.
Strat
Smells of DRM
I would hate to have the BIOS as the OS especially if I could not replace it.
This is my thought also. Everything hardwired right into the silicon including DRM, TPM, unique ID hashes for tracking, and plenty of government/law enforcement back-doors. It would also take care of all those pesky open source operating systems and enable lockout of "unauthorized" applications. Nice, safe (from the governments' and big-corps' view) computers for the masses.
Not for me, thanks.
Strat
No due process required here, your contract states that your service can be changed/cancelled for ANY reason.
Not saying its morally right, but don't mix a civil contract with criminal law.
You and the person that posted essentially the same sentiment above aren't getting it. If it was just $RANDOMISP doing this as part of their TOS that's one thing.
This is a proposed LAW, ENFORCED BY GOVERNMENT, REQUIRING DISCONNECTION WITHOUT LEGAL RECOURSE, UPON MERE ACCUSATION BY A PRIVATE ENTITY.
A *LAW*.
With NO RECOURSE.
In which a PRIVATE PARTY can convict anyone by MERE ACCUSATION.
Not a TOS.
Not a contract.
THAT is what is at issue.
I know this is /. and to RTFA is anathema, but for $DEITY's sake, at least have a clue about the general topic upon which you comment, OK? Hmm?
Strat
And when they are beaten in the marketplace they go running to their friends in government to strongarm their competition.
Wait. What competition? What strong-arming? As far as I can remember from reading slashdot, one of the most anti-**AA sites on the internet, the one and only drum they have been banging is the anti-piracy drum. I don't remember hearing of any government help to eliminate legitimate competition.
I guess you missed the /. pieces about the attempt to strangle/kill internet radio, where independent artists have a chance to be heard by a wide audience?
I guess you also missed the part where they passed a law to force the internet radio stations to pay royalties to SoundExchange for independent artists' work unless they could show a contract for each separate indy artist?
That SoundExchange could legally keep a portion of said indy artists' royalties as "expenses" for performing the unasked-for and unwanted (by the indy artists/internet radio stations) task of grabbing royalties from internet radio stations in the name of independent artists?
Not sure what the MPAA has done to stifle competition, as there isn't a whole lot of that in the same way there is in music. However, the RIAA has been hard at work buying laws to stifle independent artists and their distribution channels.
Strat
Hehehe! Busted!
Yeah, how many *nix-using geek guitar amp builders can there be, right?
Well, good to see you here. BTW, I use a number of different OS's...Linux, Free/Net/OpenBSD, A little Solaris, and even IRIX Unix in my SGI Octane R12000 workstation. I've even gone as far as playing with Plan9 from Bell Labs.
Good luck with the amp(s)! See you around the Weber forum.
Strat
...build my own guitar amplifiers...
You too, huh?
Hmmm..Ari..might you be "iamtheari" from the Weber forums by any chance?
Just curious...I'm a frequent poster there and your slashname is somewhat similar to the name in quotes who is an amp builder and poster there that I've recently replied to/helped.
Strat
...use the system and gain what you want legitimately, instead of trying to sidestep it like a teenager.
The problem being that it can be fairly argued that the system is corrupt, owned by those interests with much much larger reserves of wealth. In a system in which you get as much justice as you can afford when it's working relatively normally & well, then adding in the additional corruption, the chances of the average non-wealthy, non-lawyer individual coming out ahead against said wealthy interests in court are slim.
Strat
And you have personally witnessed this?
I have.
I am not some bitter FreeBSD user hiding out in his mother's basement.
Well, to be fair, PC-BSD rivals Ubuntu in ease-of-use and simplicity for desktop users IMHO.
Of course YMMV, blah blah, yadda yadda...
Strat
Yeah, except the last time a Democrat was President of the U.S. didn't they burn done some compound in Texas because they wouldn't let the ATF in on a "child abuse" warrant? (hint: the ATF doesn't have jurisdiction in child abuse cases)
Yeah, and how many ATF agents were killed & wounded?
I'm not sure the ATF really wants to play that type of scenario out in Texas on a large scale. They'd run out of agents long before Texas ran out of Texans or ammo. I don't think even the Democrats are nutty enough to start dropping MOABs or tactical nukes in the continental US on our own citizens.
Then again, I could be wrong. I didn't think they'd send in tanks and use incendiaries in Waco or shoot an unarmed woman with a baby in her arms at Ruby Ridge, either.
Funny how that works. Don't want to make radical Muslims that have attacked and killed Americans many many times and want to kill everyone that aren't them uncomfortable by yelling at them, but inconvenient citizens are open-season with a bulls-eye on their backs.
Interesting times, indeed.
Strat
Ask 'kash' on the #gentoo-mips channel of Freenode for some IRIX disc images. There's a VMware appliance called DINA to let you netboot them easily and install IRIX without a SCSI CDROM.
Yeah, I grabbed a copy of DINA 1.0 from a Nekoware mirror. I just hope this old PC can handle the VMWare Player etc, as it's an old 2.0gHz P4 with only 768MB of RAM. If not, I may have to attempt to convince my friend (the sax player in my blues band) to loan me his dual-core laptop with 3.5GB of RAM. :P
Here's the URL for the Nekoware mirror containing DINA 1.0 plus the documentation in case anyone wants it: http://se.mirror.nekoware.net/IRIX/DINA/
I *did* find the IRIX 6.5 base install .ISO images and extras on Demonoid and also the 6.5.30 upgrade .ISO images also. I haven't decided yet if I want to go that route, as I'm loathe to pirate stuff. It may end up being my only option though if I can't convince SGI to help without a boatload of cash.
Strat
Not to mention, very few people wanted to run IRIX outside of SGI systems.
Well, as someone who owns an Octane R12000 300mHz 64 bit machine (CMNB015ANG300) plus matching SGI 20-inch monitor (Sony GDM-4011P) I purchased used (and very cheap! :D ) from a fellow-LUG member who basically gave up on learning its' ins-and-outs, it would be great to have IRIX et al open-sourced. The Octane is quite the machine at ~54 pounds, and is still impressive in many areas despite being over 10 years old.
I didn't receive the base install or upgrade discs with the machine as he didn't have them either, so I've had to live with some quirks left over from non-IRIX/Unix-familiar previous owners' dabbling with and in the system rather than doing a nice clean install. I just can't see spending somewhere around $600 for a license plus media for the IRIX 6.5 base install plus extra to bring it up to version 6.5.30.
Heck, I've still not located a decently-priced (~$175 is too expensive IMO, especially considering I paid $25 total for the Octane & monitor) Octane/IRIX-compatible external SCSI CDROM.
Strat
MAFIAA would really like an old school favour from the US gov.
The talking to the "nordic" zone got about copy'law' was just the start.
Next would come slight changes in the ways the US gov sees on country. Gone are the days easy access. Simple gov to gov transactions seem to take more time, things get lost.
On the covert side, small parties and the opposition seem to have found more funding and a louder voice.
The press is filled with the kind of news never seen before. Accurate information about sitting members of the gov.
Slush funds exposed. Links to the far left, right and faith based cults. Bribes and deals that where 'over' a decade old, hidden and accepted, be come front page as new information leaks.
Comedy shows are relentless on a political family name, up and down the family tree, until the wider population will be giggling for three decades.
Gov fails, and new elections are called.
A night of protest, parties and violence.
Tame police watch the radio room and squad cars are a bit further away from a zone of interest.
There is a sound, its called in. Orchestrated confusion and a set of well timed prank calls ensures the police will be late due to distance.
A series of break ins at tech sites.
The next day its just another story.
The Swedes, being no fools, see what the US is covertly attempting. Not only do they retaliate by suggesting Swiss banks suddenly start having "problems" with US big-players' Swiss bank accounts...access problems, sudden "accidental" account balance zeroing that will "take time to correct", accidental leaks of account owners' ID's and histories of payments made to shady persons & organizations and/or for shady purposes, etc.
They also take it straight to the WTO and gain the right, as Antigua did, to freely ignore US copyright laws and possibly much more. Thousands of "Pirate Bays" spring up suddenly protected by Swiss and international laws & organizations.
How much US debt do the Swiss hold? If they hold a significant amount, they could suddenly decide to dump all those US Treasury Bills, and with the current situation with China not wanting to buy any more US debt to finance our huge deficit spending/"stimulus"/bailouts anymore, the impact on the international market for US Treasury Bills could be significant and painful.
The Swiss are quite capable of making the US government and the big players in and behind it pay very very dearly. Probably to the point that the US government would rethink its' backing of US "Big Media" in this instance as just too costly both financially & politically.
Strat
That won't work. Those devices log location to memory without transmitting. If they use wireless download it is a brief transmission.
Did you even bother to read my reply to budgenator who made the exact same point above before posting?
As far as the police ever getting the bright idea to attach one of these things to *my* vehicle without a warrant, I hope they aren't too disappointed when they come back and find the unit missing. I'll simply chop the thing to bits and dispose of it and deny any knowledge of it if asked. I'll bet the investigators would get hell for losing one of those things, as they can't be cheap.
Besides, why would any LEO go to all that trouble unless they feel they have a reason to track someone.
Oh, I dunno...maybe they're related to Drew Peterson? Of course they have a reason. Just *what* that reason is, and whether it's legal or even has anything to do with legitimate law enforcement is another story.
If this judge is elected, I wonder how he'd feel about needing a warrant to attach a tracker if his political opponents were to track *him* and publish any embarrassing information obtained in a political/election advertisement? Heck, even if he's not elected, take out an advertisement in the newspaper or simply post flyers around the city with the info as well as publishing it on the 'net. I'd bet he would reconsider his decision then.
Strat
One of the best educational experiences of my life was when my (public) high school calculus and physics teachers coordinated together so that you would learn calculus we needed as we were learning physics (surely Newton would approve). That way you could learn integration one hour, and find out how to use integration to solve kinetics with velocity and acceleration in the next hour.
I always thought that's how school should work, and it's great to hear that someone, somewhere, is actually doing it that way. Why isn't this more widespread though?
That would require teachers and school administration that cared. It would also generally require the teachers' unions and the government to encourage it nationwide.
If this was implemented on a national scale it could lead to a much better-educated public with analytical thinking skills. Which is precisely what those in power *don't* want. Better for them if the population is under-educated, low-income, drug-addicted, and filled with hatred over wedge issues like abortion, gay marriage, class warfare, and 2-party politics.
It's much easier to divide and conquer when your targets don't understand division, can't spell "conquer", and have never heard of Sun Tzu.
Strat
Police got a warrant to put a GPS on his car and secretly attached it while the vehicle was parked in Sveum's driveway. The device recorded his car's movements for five weeks before police retrieved it and downloaded the information. Wisconsin court upholds GPS tracking by police
The tracker is a receiver/recorder, unless the IF is leaking badly, the field strength meter is useless.
Most of the smaller/cheaper GPS receivers that I've seen aren't all that well shielded and would leak enough of the LO (local oscillator) from the receivers' mixer to be detectable within 2-3 feet by an amplified FSM, which is what I was thinking.
Strat
What we ought to be asking for is for some clever engineering /. reader to develop and market a device that can find a GPS unit on your vehicle.
Already done, and cheaply. Just purchase an R.F. field strength meter, a common tool for those in amateur radio and radio communications in general. There are a wide variety of models and price-points.
They are relatively simple and cheap to build yourself, especially for frequencies under 500mHz. Here's a rather fancy LED-bar indicator design with plenty of sensitivity and good to ~2gHz that won't break the bank found in a Google search:
http://www.qsl.net/n9zia/wireless/pics/LED_sig_meter.png
Strat
The hidden partition isn't terribly helpful when the drive fails or the partition table becomes corrupted...
Well, to be fair it IS helpful.
But only to MS's sales numbers when the poor sap buys a retail copy, or at least thinks s/he has to buy a retail copy and doesn't bother researching any alternatives. Which is probably a large enough number of extra sales to more than make up for support costs and customer dissatisfaction resulting from this scheme in MS's eyes.
I tell family and close friends that ask me about and/or want me to be available to help them with their Windows machine that they'll have to buy an external HDD first. I explain to them about disk imaging and give them a choice of either learning how to make relatively-current backup images themselves, or let me do it maybe every 2-3 months when I get the time, which means they may lose that much of their data.
Many of them, once they've seen me back up a disc image then restore it, are amazed and then want to learn to do it themselves, which saves me much hassle and wasted time and them much frustration and money. Win-win!
Strat
It's no use, Attila. It's like a religion, there's nothing that anyone can say that will convince people who are "true believers".
Many of the "true believers" are scientists as well.
I found it extremely apropos that the MOTD at the bottom of this page was:
"Heavier than air flying machines are impossible." -- Lord Kelvin, President, Royal Society, c. 1895
So when these "true believers" quote various scientists and scientific/climate-study groups as citations, I am singularly unimpressed.
I still hold to my original assertion that we lack both detailed practical & theoretical knowledge about the large number of semi-chaotic interactive systems involved in global climate, as well as enough accurate raw climate data over a sufficiently-long period to make any models or theories even remotely reliable had we that capability in the first place.
Certainly not reliable enough to take major actions that could and very likely would have major negative effects on societies, causing much human suffering and probably a fair number of indirect deaths, as well as possibly causing disastrous unforeseen climatological outcomes that may dwarf any problems we fear presently.
But, hey...as long as Al Gore can make a mint with his carbon-credit trading house scheme and the liberal-progressives can increase the size of government, make it more socialist, and turn the USA into another two-bit country that has little say in world affairs while increasing their control over every aspect of the populations' lives, then it's all good, no?
Really...I'm not trolling here. It's just that I've been alive long enough and educated well enough to see a scam when one is staring me in the face, and I'm also too old to bother too much with trying to save dangerous idiots' internet-feelings from being hurt.
Strat
As someone who has some knowledge of climate science:
you're just flat wrong.. deal with it
Al?
Al Gore, is that you, you jet-setting environmentalist?
But anyway...
No, *you're* just flat wrong..deal with it.
Gee, that sure proves a lot. How does this work? Is it the one who fails to post back "No, *you're* wrong!" first the loser? It's been a long time since I played playground games. I've gotten used to adult reasoning and discussion methods this past half-century or so, so I find myself at a disadvantage here..sorry.
Strat
It is fortunate that bluestrat has a kind and eloquent mentor such as yourself to help them learn the errors of their way.
That was my point.
My lawn.
Off it you will get.
.
Now, for all those calling *my* post a troll...what exactly was the OPs' post I replied to?
Insightful? Interesting?
Please. ::facepalm::
The whole "climate change/global warming/P.C. term du jour" can be summed up quite succinctly with two words:
Insufficient Data.
There simply is not enough data or the computing power to calculate what (if anything of significance) we are currently doing to the climate or what any measures we may take would or could do. We could already be doing the best thing we could reasonably/practically be doing to keep world climate as steady as we are capable of. The programs being seriously suggested may have exactly the opposite effect on global climate than what is intended.
We don't know enough of the rules and principles guiding global climate, nor do we possess enough data to even be certain of what's gone on past a century or two back. We certainly don't have enough to be able to make predictions on what will happen, or what effect any actions we may take will have, if any.
Maybe in another century or two, we *might* have enough knowledge, understanding, and also sufficient data to *begin* to understand our planets' climate systems. Until then, anything we do may be the wrong thing and at this point, the politicians jumping on the whole "climate change" bandwagon (like Al Gore who stands to make a LOT of money from cap-and-trade) are there to increase their own and governments' power over the people, and rob more wealth from those who actually are productive members of humanity.
Strat