Actually, it's not unusual for an aircrafts' aluminum skin panels to peel away in a situation like a power-on out of control dive, where speeds far exceed max airspeed specs. Sometimes even under normal speeds with aging/fatigued metal, as in the famous case a while back about the 747(IIRC) that departed Hawaii(again, IIRC), only to have a huge gaping hole ripped from the side when fatigued metal failed under stress, spilling some passengers, seating, etc. out of the aircraft, after which it was miraculously landed safley. Additionally, while aircraft crash investigations are able to extract information better than they ever have, when an aircraft breaks up at extreme high speeds, thin and light aluminum skin, and even heavier materials get shredded to an amazing degree. Example, you've got a tiny twisted piece of skin..say, no more than 1-2 inches in any dimension..there is no difference between it, and thousands of other nearly identical pieces, with no markings, or detectable machined surface/edge. Where exactly was this tiny bit? Sometimes, there's no telling. Not saying they couldn't have contradictory info, or that info concealed/altered/etc., but it's also possible that the data simply isn't obtainable with current techniques.
" Which of course makes one wonder if a fighter pilot could target specific control surfaces to cause damage of that nature."
Not in any practical sense. The only way would be to use the cannon, and it would be a very difficult shot. Besides, one other thing to take into account, is the likelyhood that targeting a wing would result in an explosion, as the wings are full of fuel. A missile will either target radar-center, or an engine, depending on missile guidance type. Given the type/size of warheads used, (and the unarmored nature of civilian aircraft) a missile strike would most likely result in a fireball. Not to say it's not possible, just not likely, and extremely difficult to pull off even under ideal conditions, IMHO.
"umm, there WAS debris found 8 miles or so from the main impact site, backwards from the line of flight,[...]"
One thing to take into consideration, is that if there was a struggle in the cockpit, and the aircraft went out of control, it is quite likely that pieces were ripped from the aircraft by the extreme loads placed on the airframe. An airliner is no fighter jet, one can rip the wings, horizontal/vertical stabilizers off quite easily under extreme maneuvers/speed, or in an uncontrolled dive. As far as accounting for the debris field being so far away, the aircraft could have sustained damage, but actually travelled some distance before impact, as we're talking starting at an altitude of around 30,000-35,000 ft, which means that the aircraft could have been in a fairly steep dive, losing more and more pieces, and still cover 8 miles ground distance. Although not an A&P (Airframe and Powerplant) mechanic or crash investigator, I am a retired senior avionics technician, and have helped in crash investigations before, including black-box voice/data extraction from damaged recorders, and have also worked helping to repair crashed aircraft that were salvageable, so have some experience from which to speak.
"I think anyone that tried to convince a jury that I shouldn't be allowed to watch a movie I bought on a device I bought would be laughed out of court."
IANAL, but do copyright cases even have a jury (in the USA), or do they get heard by just a judge, being that copyright cases are (currently) civil cases? Even *if* it's heard by a jury, the instructions given the jury on what precise legal issue(s) and what evidence they can take into account in that/those decision(s) is *supposed* to limit the kind of jury rejection/nullification one might hope for in these kinds of stupid legal situations. If a jury *did* reject/nullify such a case, would the judge be able to declare a mistrial on the basis of the jury not following instructions, or the case appealed on that basis? Does anyone have any insights on this subject?
"Instead of recycling electronics, it would be much better if they could send them to less-developed countries where high-tech is more or less non-existant."
IIRC, (too tired/lazy to look right now) wasn't there a/. article a few weeks back about recycling, and it being (supposedly/allegedly, tinfoil hat==on?) a subterfuge to remove old 'good enough to run linux' boxes from the market to help promote adoption of new(er) computers/OSs (mostly posited to be an underhanded M$ plot here on/., but what else is new?:-D)?
Actually, they use tube amps..tube preamps and tube microphones to be exact. Just google for professional audio recording studios, and look at the equipment they list. If you're refering strictly to audio power amps, then yes, they mostly use solid-state amps to drive monitors and headphones. But just mention a vintage Neumann U87 tube microphone to any top recording engineer, and watch him drool. Clipping isn't an issue here, but dynamic range and attack/decay characteristics among many other factors add up to produce a huge difference in the hard-to-define 'feel' of the sound.
I just got home from the studio, laying down some tracks, and just had a similar conversation with the recording engineer. I've also designed and built custom tube guitar amps. The reason tubes sound better to the human ear, is that when an amp distorts, both odd and even harmonics are produced. Odd harmonics sound harsh to the human ear, even harmonics tend to sound more 'musical'. When a solid state device clips (distorts), the waveform is cut off sharply, creating more odd harmonics than the more rounded clipped waveform produced by a vacuum tube. Also, the output transformer in a tube amp tends to cancel out odd harmonics, and even more so in the common push-pull type output circuit. I've had numerous chances to sit down and try some of the best/latest DSP-based amps and processors, and though they have gotten worlds better in the last 10 years, they still aren't 'there' yet. As far as for musical instruments and home stereo (Try playing a CD through an old MacIntosh amp with the folded horn speakers for a treat!) tubes definitely sound better. Now, for things like car stereo, large P.A. systems, etc., or if cost/weight/power requirements or heat is a large factor, solid-state amps are the way to go. BTW, the recording engineers' state-of-the-art mobile recording setup I recorded through tonight had a whole rack of vacuum-tube preamps, and was one of the things about his rig he was proudest of!
Thank you for your interest in our project and for your suggestions. Each of the OLI courses has a different set of browser and operating system requirements. In general, only the Java and Flash, plug-ins are required for all the courses and Director plug-in is required for The Causal Reasoning Course. All of the courses have been tested against IE, Netscape, Mozilla and Firefox. With few exceptions (e.g. a statistic tutor which only runs from IE) the courses can be accessed from an open source platform using Mozilla / Firefox.
The 'Test and Configure' pages, at present, do not reflect this fact. The configuration instructions were designed to aid the majority of users, greater than 90% of which are accessing the courses from Windows. The instructions were our attempt to keep technical instructions simple for many users who are intimidated by too many options in technical requirements. We are looking at updating the test and configure pages to better communicate with users who are using a greater variety of browsers and Operating Systems.
We invite you to become part of our user testing community by using the courses on your configuration and letting us know what works and what doesn't and we will post the information and attempt to make the courses as compatible with as many configurations as possible.
As an aside, the software behind the OLI project (with few exceptions) was built from and runs using Open Source software. Many of the content authors also use open source tools (emacs, ant, xalan, xerces, etc.)
Kind Regards, Candace Thille
Project Director Open Learning Initiative Carnegie Mellon University
If his BIOS will support booting from a USB thumbdrive, (and even if it doesn't..see boot floppy note below) I'd try Damn Small Linux (Debian/Knoppix-based) http://www.damnsmalllinux.org/download.html I gave DSL (Damn Small Linux) a try a revision or so back, and I was quite impressed, so the current version should be quite nice, and at only 50MB (!!!) only a small to medium sized thumbdrive would be needed, depending on extra space needed. If you look at the FAQ page, there are intructions to make a boot floppy from Linux or Windows. Big upside is, just take the thumby with you, plug it into whatever/whoevers' PC you happen to be at, and have *your* desktop. Hope that helps:)
OK, it seems that, from what I see, that the poster who stated that the redirect is caused by an autosearch function was correct. Running Mandrake 9.2/XFree86/KDE 3.1.3: Mozilla 1.4 redirected to www.http.com: Galeon 1.3.8 said it couldn't find 'http': Konqueror 3.1.4 also couldn't resolve 'http'. Both Galeon and Konqueror on my box don't do a search automatically on a non-conforming URL, but Mozilla does. Hope that helps:)
"...I bought a Geforce 3 card from them, only to find that the card in the box had been switched for some generic piece of junk."
A good practice that I follow when purchasing items like RAM, gfx cards, and other similar items, is to open the box/package and examining the item(s) BEFORE leaving the store. That makes it extremely hard for them to refuse to make good on any mislabeled/broken/missing items when you and the item have never left the premises. If they try to get you to exit the store before you've been given satisfaction, and threaten to call the police, tell them thankyou for saving you the cost of the call, and 99% of the time, they'll make it right. The police usually will not, in fact, actually force them on the spot to give you a refund/replacement/whatever, but the police are a very good witness, when it comes to a small claims court case, and they know it.
As an old Ham, and a retired Avionics technician, I see major problems with aircraft communications, as another major interference area, for aircraft that fly intercontinentally. The VHF aircraft communications frequencies are limited in range, so all aircraft that fly, for example, from the USA to Europe must have H.F. radio communications by F.A.A. regulations. Plus, I don't see all the other countries letting us out of our international treaties on radio communications, and ruining/polluting the H.F. radio bands for the rest of the world.
"Remember, kids - living in Texas != American, and since said Texans are now awaiting sentencing on charges of illegal export of computer equipment and funding Hamas, I'm pretty sure they are *not*, in fact, friends of Dubya.
Now mod this up to +5 informative so those jackasses down there will see it."
Modding up ain't gonna happen. Those facts might get in the way of a good Bush/USA bashing. What were you thinking!? Don't worry about it, as I'm sure those pesky facts will be revised in the next Michael Moore 'documentary'.
" Also do remember that for every one of us who want information free, there are three who stand to lose money at free information
I find that ratio hard to believe. Even those who (think they) would lose some money at free information would also benefit, in their consumer role if not in their professional career."
I can't say if the ratio is realistic, but the people making money in a serious way from proprietary/closed-source software won't give a crap that they can get a cheaper PC/OS from Walmart if their career/buisiness/financial portfolio is tanking.
There would be actual "recoil" effects, since the RG uses magnetic force the same way (roughly speaking) a normal electric motor does, except in a linear fashion. I'm not sure on the exact figures, but the recoil shouldn't be nearly the same recoil force-per-projectile-pound@muzzle-velocity ratio you'd find in a relatively energy-inefficient chemical-propellant gun. For one thing, the gasses exiting the muzzle of a conventional large gun adds quite a bit to the recoil force. (I am not a physicist or a weapons expert, YMMV, etc.)
" sure, they can arrest you, but what are you charged with?"
A couple that come to mind right away are obstructing an officer and interfering with an investigation. As usual, IANAL (or a police officer), YMMV, and this may not be a complete or correct list.
"An artist creates something and is focused on creating something for the thing's own sake, or as a means of expression.
A craftsman (including engineers and scientists) creates something for a purpose--to do something, or prove something, or learn something."
I don't see it as being that clear cut, sorry. I'm both an "artist" (musician/songwriter) and a "craftsman" (electronics engineering tech/designer..design/build my own guitar amps among many other things), and in order for someone to excel at "craftsmanship", one needs creativity and artistry. Also, to excel at creativity/artistry, good craftsmanship is necessary. They are not separate things, but sides of the same coin, each dependent upon the other. As an aside, I don't see where the previous post you replied to used an ad hominem attack, it merely questioned your breadth of knowledge of the subject based on your statement.
"Central elements of the system were designed by Microsoft + Intel + the rest of the Trusted Computing Group. This new "Foundation code" *is* the Palladium replacement for BIOS. It is the Trusted Computing foundation."
For those not familiar or want more info on Trusted Computing/Palladium/NGSCB here's a couple of informational URLs. They're definitely worth a read.
"You don't have to get up to a black belt level to learn how to handle that. But you do have to have practiced countering a knife-wielding attacker."
Additionally, and possibly most importantly, know when you're facing someone who knows how to fight with a knife. If the knife-wielder has taken a balanced fighting stance, with the knife held back and in a semi-relaxed grip with the blade horizontal, and the other hand out front, either run like hell, or do what he says, as it's likely he has experience/training in fighting with a blade, and any such attempt by a relatively inexperienced (or even experienced) person will likely turn out *very* badly, as an experienced/trained knife fighter is as dangerous at close quarters as someone trained and armed with a gun, maybe even more so.
The Way Labels REALLY Work-They Risk NOTHING
on
The Way the Music Died
·
· Score: 2, Interesting
This talk about how the labels are 'risking' so much is pure bunk. If they aren't 99.9999% sure of recouping their costs *plus* a nice chunk, they won't sign you. Many artists who get signed end up *owing* the labels money, for production/promotion etc. If anyone wants an idea of how the labels really work, check out this paper written by someone on the inside:
http://www.negativland.com/albini.html
I'm a musician myself, and can attest to what Mr. Albini is saying, and that it's *not* just a diatribe by a 'disgruntled former employee' or an isolated/rare situation. If anyone out there has dreams of getting signed, I *highly* recommend this as *mandatory* reading. P.S.: I'm a blues guitarist, 46 years old, been playing since I was 14, professionally since I was about 21.
Kopete and Gaim are good, but so is Alvaros' aMSN. It even has switchable skins, and is ported to a wide range of OSs/platforms. http://amsn.sourceforge.net
Slashdot Mirror
Actually, it's not unusual for an aircrafts' aluminum skin panels to peel away in a situation like a power-on out of control dive, where speeds far exceed max airspeed specs. Sometimes even under normal speeds with aging/fatigued metal, as in the famous case a while back about the 747(IIRC) that departed Hawaii(again, IIRC), only to have a huge gaping hole ripped from the side when fatigued metal failed under stress, spilling some passengers, seating, etc. out of the aircraft, after which it was miraculously landed safley. Additionally, while aircraft crash investigations are able to extract information better than they ever have, when an aircraft breaks up at extreme high speeds, thin and light aluminum skin, and even heavier materials get shredded to an amazing degree. Example, you've got a tiny twisted piece of skin..say, no more than 1-2 inches in any dimension..there is no difference between it, and thousands of other nearly identical pieces, with no markings, or detectable machined surface/edge. Where exactly was this tiny bit? Sometimes, there's no telling. Not saying they couldn't have contradictory info, or that info concealed/altered/etc., but it's also possible that the data simply isn't obtainable with current techniques.
" Which of course makes one wonder if a fighter pilot could target specific control surfaces to cause damage of that nature."
Not in any practical sense. The only way would be to use the cannon, and it would be a very difficult shot. Besides, one other thing to take into account, is the likelyhood that targeting a wing would result in an explosion, as the wings are full of fuel. A missile will either target radar-center, or an engine, depending on missile guidance type. Given the type/size of warheads used, (and the unarmored nature of civilian aircraft) a missile strike would most likely result in a fireball. Not to say it's not possible, just not likely, and extremely difficult to pull off even under ideal conditions, IMHO.
Strat
"umm, there WAS debris found 8 miles or so from the main impact site, backwards from the line of flight,[...]"
One thing to take into consideration, is that if there was a struggle in the cockpit, and the aircraft went out of control, it is quite likely that pieces were ripped from the aircraft by the extreme loads placed on the airframe. An airliner is no fighter jet, one can rip the wings, horizontal/vertical stabilizers off quite easily under extreme maneuvers/speed, or in an uncontrolled dive. As far as accounting for the debris field being so far away, the aircraft could have sustained damage, but actually travelled some distance before impact, as we're talking starting at an altitude of around 30,000-35,000 ft, which means that the aircraft could have been in a fairly steep dive, losing more and more pieces, and still cover 8 miles ground distance. Although not an A&P (Airframe and Powerplant) mechanic or crash investigator, I am a retired senior avionics technician, and have helped in crash investigations before, including black-box voice/data extraction from damaged recorders, and have also worked helping to repair crashed aircraft that were salvageable, so have some experience from which to speak.
Strat
"I think anyone that tried to convince a jury that I shouldn't be allowed to watch a movie I bought on a device I bought would be laughed out of court."
IANAL, but do copyright cases even have a jury (in the USA), or do they get heard by just a judge, being that copyright cases are (currently) civil cases? Even *if* it's heard by a jury, the instructions given the jury on what precise legal issue(s) and what evidence they can take into account in that/those decision(s) is *supposed* to limit the kind of jury rejection/nullification one might hope for in these kinds of stupid legal situations. If a jury *did* reject/nullify such a case, would the judge be able to declare a mistrial on the basis of the jury not following instructions, or the case appealed on that basis? Does anyone have any insights on this subject?
Strat
"Instead of recycling electronics, it would be much better if they could send them to less-developed countries where high-tech is more or less non-existant."
/. article a few weeks back about recycling, and it being (supposedly/allegedly, tinfoil hat==on?) a subterfuge to remove old 'good enough to run linux' boxes from the market to help promote adoption of new(er) computers/OSs (mostly posited to be an underhanded M$ plot here on /., but what else is new? :-D)?
IIRC, (too tired/lazy to look right now) wasn't there a
Actually, they use tube amps..tube preamps and tube microphones to be exact. Just google for professional audio recording studios, and look at the equipment they list. If you're refering strictly to audio power amps, then yes, they mostly use solid-state amps to drive monitors and headphones. But just mention a vintage Neumann U87 tube microphone to any top recording engineer, and watch him drool. Clipping isn't an issue here, but dynamic range and attack/decay characteristics among many other factors add up to produce a huge difference in the hard-to-define 'feel' of the sound.
I just got home from the studio, laying down some tracks, and just had a similar conversation with the recording engineer. I've also designed and built custom tube guitar amps. The reason tubes sound better to the human ear, is that when an amp distorts, both odd and even harmonics are produced. Odd harmonics sound harsh to the human ear, even harmonics tend to sound more 'musical'. When a solid state device clips (distorts), the waveform is cut off sharply, creating more odd harmonics than the more rounded clipped waveform produced by a vacuum tube. Also, the output transformer in a tube amp tends to cancel out odd harmonics, and even more so in the common push-pull type output circuit. I've had numerous chances to sit down and try some of the best/latest DSP-based amps and processors, and though they have gotten worlds better in the last 10 years, they still aren't 'there' yet. As far as for musical instruments and home stereo (Try playing a CD through an old MacIntosh amp with the folded horn speakers for a treat!) tubes definitely sound better. Now, for things like car stereo, large P.A. systems, etc., or if cost/weight/power requirements or heat is a large factor, solid-state amps are the way to go. BTW, the recording engineers' state-of-the-art mobile recording setup I recorded through tonight had a whole rack of vacuum-tube preamps, and was one of the things about his rig he was proudest of!
Strat
Thank you for your interest in our project and for your suggestions. Each
of the OLI courses has a different set of browser and operating system
requirements. In general, only the Java and Flash, plug-ins are required
for all the courses and Director plug-in is required for The Causal
Reasoning Course. All of the courses have been tested against IE, Netscape,
Mozilla and Firefox. With few exceptions (e.g. a statistic tutor which only
runs from IE) the courses can be accessed from an open source platform
using Mozilla / Firefox.
The 'Test and Configure' pages, at present, do not reflect this fact. The
configuration instructions were designed to aid the majority of users,
greater than 90% of which are accessing the courses from Windows. The
instructions were our attempt to keep technical instructions simple for
many users who are intimidated by too many options in technical
requirements. We are looking at updating the test and configure pages to
better communicate with users who are using a greater variety of browsers
and Operating Systems.
We invite you to become part of our user testing community by using the
courses on your configuration and letting us know what works and what
doesn't and we will post the information and attempt to make the courses as
compatible with as many configurations as possible.
As an aside, the software behind the OLI project (with few exceptions) was
built from and runs using Open Source software. Many of the content authors
also use open source tools (emacs, ant, xalan, xerces, etc.)
Kind Regards,
Candace Thille
Project Director
Open Learning Initiative
Carnegie Mellon University
If his BIOS will support booting from a USB thumbdrive, (and even if it doesn't..see boot floppy note below) I'd try Damn Small Linux (Debian/Knoppix-based) http://www.damnsmalllinux.org/download.html :)
I gave DSL (Damn Small Linux) a try a revision or so back, and I was quite impressed, so the current version should be quite nice, and at only 50MB (!!!) only a small to medium sized thumbdrive would be needed, depending on extra space needed.
If you look at the FAQ page, there are intructions to make a boot floppy from Linux or Windows. Big upside is, just take the thumby with you, plug it into whatever/whoevers' PC you happen to be at, and have *your* desktop. Hope that helps
Strat
OK, it seems that, from what I see, that the poster who stated that the redirect is caused by an autosearch function was correct. Running Mandrake 9.2/XFree86/KDE 3.1.3: Mozilla 1.4 redirected to www.http.com: Galeon 1.3.8 said it couldn't find 'http': Konqueror 3.1.4 also couldn't resolve 'http'. Both Galeon and Konqueror on my box don't do a search automatically on a non-conforming URL, but Mozilla does. Hope that helps :)
Strat
"...I bought a Geforce 3 card from them, only to find that the card in the box had been switched for some generic piece of junk."
A good practice that I follow when purchasing items like RAM, gfx cards, and other similar items, is to open the box/package and examining the item(s) BEFORE leaving the store. That makes it extremely hard for them to refuse to make good on any mislabeled/broken/missing items when you and the item have never left the premises. If they try to get you to exit the store before you've been given satisfaction, and threaten to call the police, tell them thankyou for saving you the cost of the call, and 99% of the time, they'll make it right. The police usually will not, in fact, actually force them on the spot to give you a refund/replacement/whatever, but the police are a very good witness, when it comes to a small claims court case, and they know it.
As an old Ham, and a retired Avionics technician, I see major problems with aircraft communications, as another major interference area, for aircraft that fly intercontinentally. The VHF aircraft communications frequencies are limited in range, so all aircraft that fly, for example, from the USA to Europe must have H.F. radio communications by F.A.A. regulations. Plus, I don't see all the other countries letting us out of our international treaties on radio communications, and ruining/polluting the H.F. radio bands for the rest of the world.
Well, as long as my post might have helped get the parent post modded up, I'll take the "0, Flamebait" mod, and wear it with pride! :-D
"Remember, kids - living in Texas != American, and since said Texans are now awaiting sentencing on charges of illegal export of computer equipment and funding Hamas, I'm pretty sure they are *not*, in fact, friends of Dubya.
Now mod this up to +5 informative so those jackasses down there will see it."
Modding up ain't gonna happen. Those facts might get in the way of a good Bush/USA bashing. What were you thinking!? Don't worry about it, as I'm sure those pesky facts will be revised in the next Michael Moore 'documentary'.
" Also do remember that for every one of us who want information free, there are three who stand to lose money at free information
I find that ratio hard to believe. Even those who (think they) would lose some money at free information would also benefit, in their consumer role if not in their professional career."
I can't say if the ratio is realistic, but the people making money in a serious way from proprietary/closed-source software won't give a crap that they can get a cheaper PC/OS from Walmart if their career/buisiness/financial portfolio is tanking.
" im sure the Fine print on the letters Read
:-P
"ALL YOUR DRUM & BASS ARE BELONG TO US""
Hmm, maybe they're out to settle a 'score'?
Sorry, couldn't help it
I'll shutup now.
There would be actual "recoil" effects, since the RG uses magnetic force the same way (roughly speaking) a normal electric motor does, except in a linear fashion. I'm not sure on the exact figures, but the recoil shouldn't be nearly the same recoil force-per-projectile-pound@muzzle-velocity ratio you'd find in a relatively energy-inefficient chemical-propellant gun. For one thing, the gasses exiting the muzzle of a conventional large gun adds quite a bit to the recoil force. (I am not a physicist or a weapons expert, YMMV, etc.)
" sure, they can arrest you, but what are you charged with?"
A couple that come to mind right away are obstructing an officer and interfering with an investigation. As usual, IANAL (or a police officer), YMMV, and this may not be a complete or correct list.
"An artist creates something and is focused on creating something for the thing's own sake, or as a means of expression.
A craftsman (including engineers and scientists) creates something for a purpose--to do something, or prove something, or learn something."
I don't see it as being that clear cut, sorry. I'm both an "artist" (musician/songwriter) and a "craftsman" (electronics engineering tech/designer..design/build my own guitar amps among many other things), and in order for someone to excel at "craftsmanship", one needs creativity and artistry. Also, to excel at creativity/artistry, good craftsmanship is necessary. They are not separate things, but sides of the same coin, each dependent upon the other. As an aside, I don't see where the previous post you replied to used an ad hominem attack, it merely questioned your breadth of knowledge of the subject based on your statement.
"then may be i'll look into buying their stuff."
:-D (j/k)
:-P)
Yeah, but if MS ever *releases* bug-free code, *then* I'd start worrying, as I'm sure that *has* to be one of the signs of the Apocalypse!
(Ah, well..at least I used up my mod points before I deep-sixed my karma
"Central elements of the system were designed by Microsoft + Intel + the rest of the Trusted Computing Group. This new "Foundation code" *is* the Palladium replacement for BIOS. It is the Trusted Computing foundation."
For those not familiar or want more info on Trusted Computing/Palladium/NGSCB here's a couple of informational URLs. They're definitely worth a read.
http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~rja14/tcpa-faq.html
http://www.againsttcpa.com/
"You don't have to get up to a black belt level to learn how to handle that. But you do have to have practiced countering a knife-wielding attacker."
Additionally, and possibly most importantly, know when you're facing someone who knows how to fight with a knife. If the knife-wielder has taken a balanced fighting stance, with the knife held back and in a semi-relaxed grip with the blade horizontal, and the other hand out front, either run like hell, or do what he says, as it's likely he has experience/training in fighting with a blade, and any such attempt by a relatively inexperienced (or even experienced) person will likely turn out *very* badly, as an experienced/trained knife fighter is as dangerous at close quarters as someone trained and armed with a gun, maybe even more so.
This talk about how the labels are 'risking' so much is pure bunk. If they aren't 99.9999% sure of recouping their costs *plus* a nice chunk, they won't sign you. Many artists who get signed end up *owing* the labels money, for production/promotion etc. If anyone wants an idea of how the labels really work, check out this paper written by someone on the inside:
http://www.negativland.com/albini.html
I'm a musician myself, and can attest to what Mr. Albini is saying, and that it's *not* just a diatribe by a 'disgruntled former employee' or an isolated/rare situation. If anyone out there has dreams of getting signed, I *highly* recommend this as *mandatory* reading. P.S.: I'm a blues guitarist, 46 years old, been playing since I was 14, professionally since I was about 21.
Nice Start. Now only several hundred thousand, maybe more, to go.
Kopete and Gaim are good, but so is Alvaros' aMSN. It even has switchable skins, and is ported to a wide range of OSs/platforms. http://amsn.sourceforge.net