Why should a hard drive stop spinning? There's a great amount of inertia to overcome when it's stopped, plus a lot of static friction.
Seems to me that they HD should spin 15000rpm when it's in use, and operate on a sliding-scale when not in use: the longer unused, the slower it spins, down to perhaps 1000rpm.
But keeping it spinning: I should think that's important in achieving fast spin-up times and reducing the power demand during spin-up.
I have one of the wing o' deth keyboards. Weighs a frigging metric tonne. Got those sweet, sweet ALPS keys in it... real springs and everything. Built like a freaking brick shithouse. When you put it down, it *stays* put. And clicky! Oh, so clicky!
I was lucky enough to score a replacement keyboard for free the other day. It's not a steel-plate wing o' deth, but it's got the ALPS keys. I figure I can swap out the guts.
For others with this sort of fanaticism for great keyboards, this website looks promising: they repair keyboards, and it sure looks like they're using ALPS keyswitches in their custom keyboards. I'm particularly horny for the one with the rubber joystick-mouse on it: [PC Keyboard].
If anyone does buy a keyboard from PCKeyboard, how about writing a Slashdot review?
Not a chance. The Robertson screw already rules the intelligent builder's world. Square-head recessed slot, that provides far better torque than hex, plus can't be stripped-out. Three standard sizes, and common as mud... if you're in one of the more advanced sort of civilizations, at any rate.
Canadian invention, I think. Part of our insidious plan to take over the world, eh? Get with the program already; resistance is futile.
And, because your name and address are in the envelope, so that you can be removed from the mailing list, the post office will have your ass for mailing it. Yes, they have rules about what you can mail. No, you can't mail tsatsiki without using a proper container (which, naturally, the recipient wouldn't open, not being utterly stupid.)
Many reasons for this experiment... but the most obvious one is this:
NASA is run by men.
I mean, come on! What guy reading this article didn't get a hard-on at the idea of, basically, slamming a volkswagon beetle travelling 20 000mph into solid rock? This is way fucking better than dropping old computer monitors from the top of a building, shooting old hard drives with armour-piercing bullets or taking a sledgehammer to the laser printer!
Now, if *women* were running NASA, we'd have all sorts of namby-pamby cuddling stuff. Blast hell out of a comet? Dear, no, let's capture it and bring it back to earth! Smash a comet that's going to strike the earth? My, my, no! Let's attach booster rockets to it, and redirect the poor thing!
Rock on, NASA! Beat shit outta stuff for us -- just make sure you take lotsa pictures!
There are, I think, two ways to view Jobs' comments:
Either he was truly shocked and disgusted with the situations he was encountering...
OR
He was trying to re-invent or re-market himself.
If truly the former, I think I'd buy stock in Apple: that kind of reaction to idiocy should result in him digging deeper, kicking ass and making things Right.
If the latter, then I'd run from the stock: nothing will change, he'll lose respect, and the whole thing will go down the crapper.
This is Jobs we're talking about... so *either* scenario is equally likely. How much do I feel like gambling today...?:-)
The government doesn't need to be your enemy, *IF* you have a socially-responsible government that is accountable to the people.
But this idea begins to sound like the word "socialism," which the American public has been brainwashed to believe is bad.
At this point, I believe it's too late for the American government to be changed toward a socially-responsible model. The Corporations own and control the government, now, and they will most emphatically *not* give up that control.
The sad truth is that the American public will receive only those socially-responsible programs and benefits that the Corporations determine are best for advancing their own goals.
In short, y'all are fucked. Get used to getting shafted!
I got no problem paying a tax on pirating CDs, but I sure as hell have a problem with my tax money going to fund a useless damn government administration department for the administering tax, going to fund a useless damn recording industry department for doling out what pittance is left over, and going to fund that goddamn Celine Dion who's going to get whatever few pennies remain.
The consuming public has ultimate power. If enough people refuse to participate in supporting a product through its purchase, the product will disappear from the market.
The key, as with anything, is that enough people have to do it.
If the public would get half a fucking clue, it could enact real, significant, positive and long-lasting change in the way our governments and corporations operate.
But it's the frog-in-boiling-water thing: until things get so excrebly untolerable that the mass public literally can not stand it any more, they'll put up with the moderately intolerable.
Which is to say, that which is untolerable, generally isn't. People adapt, get used to it, suck it down, and live with it.
It's a pretty fucking sorry state of affairs, and it certainly makes one worry for the fate of future generations. Will the mass public demand ecological change, in time to keep the environment from going kaput? Will the mass public demand government change, in time to keep democracy from becoming lenient corporate dictatorship? Will the the mass public demand freedom to view/listen to media as desired, in time to keep it from becoming a pay-per-view, each-view, each-person event?
Frankly, I doubt it. The mass public is too apathetic. It's gonna be a bugger apologizing to our kids for letting things get as bad as they will...
I am *NOT* arguing for legitimized theft. I said absolutely *nothing* to indicate that the Internet should be a free-for-all of piracy.
What I clearly stated is that getting upset with the government is wrong-headed, because it's owned by the Corporations. Not having the ability to influence our own government, we must instead influence the Corporations.
It's only by entering a dialog with the Corporations that we will achieve a mutually-beneficial compromise. And the only way to get the Corporations to enter a dialog (instead of bumfucking us by purchasing our government from us) is to boycott them and write a letter telling them why you're boycotting them and what they can do differently to win your support back.
This is *not* saying that the Corporations must support rampant piracy.
Now, if you're perfectly happy to allow Corporations to buy your government from you, and perfectly happy to have those Corporations purchase draconian laws that may or may not harm your ability to use the products you purchase, then you are perfectly free to not boycott those Corporations. In fact, it is your duty to send them an extra twenty bucks, to help them achieve your goals.
For the rest of us, it is imperative that we (a) educate ourselves regarding the political and social actions taken by Corporations; (b) consciously decide to support or not support them, by purchasing or steadfastedly not purchasing their products; and (c) spreading the word.
If we do not become active consumers, we will become passive slaves to Corporate desires.
Nah. Redundant isn't as important to weed out as the shitloads of idiot spams and trolls. I'd much rather read two well-written messages addressing the same point, than fifty poorly-written messages that contain no useful content at all. IMO, YMMV. Do feel free to steal the sig and use it to promote your view.
...is that most, if not all, of the posts are focusing on *government* control of the Internet.
Sorry, guys, but that's a dead-wrong approach. The only governments that are directly squelching the Internet are a few totalitarian regimes with far worse problems of human rights violations than just a bit of Internet-blocking.
No, for most of us Internet users, the problem is not with government control: it's with Corporate control. That these corporations may weild the government as a weapon against us it irrelevant: the fact remains that it's the EULAs, MPAAs, RIAAs and suchlike that are squishing hell out of our 'net freedoms.
The government never gave two shakes about whether you and I swapped software, music or video. Only the Corporate owners cared, and they pressured/bought the changes the government made to our laws.
If you want the Internet to remain free, you've got to battle it on two fronts: you *must* pressure your government into slacking off, and you *must* pressure Corporations into backing off.
And the only way to do the latter is to cause them financial harm. Corporations must ultimately be responsible to their shareholders, and their shareholders demand profits.
So you need to get serious about boycotting, serious about spreading the boycott, and serious about letting the Corporations know that you're boycotting them, and what they need to do differently to win back your financial support.
If you don't take those steps, you--and your use of the Internet--is fucked. Kiss all the freedoms you've come to enjoy on the net goodbye.
I'm really hoping that this thread is just tomfoolery, because they could just have easily written "...of VA Linux Systems, Inc. (''Binky'')." It's just saying that, for shorthand, they're going to use another name.
I'd like to have seen the Binky approach myself. "Your Honour, we claim that Binky told lies to the plaintiffs!"
The residents of Nunavut voted on the name "Bob," but the government told them that that name wasn't allowed. So, yes, now they're Nunavut, and, yes, they are "created."
It seems to me that the USA has an orderly system of schools, despite having ten times the population of Canada. Is there any reason the school gymnasium couldn't be used as a polling station for the immediate area?
You see, the key to success hasn't anything to do with size: it's to do with having the polling stations a reasonable size.
My town's main polling station had about a dozen tables set up. Even if *every* person in this town--including children--were to have voted at this station (but we had three), each table would have processed only 2500 people during the day. It'd take well under and hour-and-a-half to tally those votes.
The hand-counted ballots aren't a problem: the USA can do that.
The problem is with a godawful ballot design, voter registration irregularities, voters being hassled by The Man while heading to the polling station, ballots lockboxes being lost, etcetera, etcetera.
Fixing the ballots would be a first, and probably small, step in fixing the tragicomically broken US election system.
Slashdot Mirror
Why should a hard drive stop spinning? There's a great amount of inertia to overcome when it's stopped, plus a lot of static friction.
Seems to me that they HD should spin 15000rpm when it's in use, and operate on a sliding-scale when not in use: the longer unused, the slower it spins, down to perhaps 1000rpm.
But keeping it spinning: I should think that's important in achieving fast spin-up times and reducing the power demand during spin-up.
--
I think it's bogus.
There's a cult that's been promising to do this. I can't tell by the article whether Zavos is one of the culties.
If not, then it's certainly a promotional stunt.
--
No one took on Intel's mobile line?
Have you counted the number of K6 laptops recently? There are shedloads of 'em.
--
Whu? I'm quite startled by that one line, Jon. I hadn't heard of anyone getting violent in protest. Please, elucidate!
--
I've stripped Phillips drivers. Gyproc screws: case hardened, exceptionally tough. And, IIRC, not exactly a Phillips slot, though a Phillips will fit.
Have never stripped a good Robertson screw, nor a good Robertson screwdriver.
--
Oooh, baby, yah! Talk to me, talk to me!
I have one of the wing o' deth keyboards. Weighs a frigging metric tonne. Got those sweet, sweet ALPS keys in it... real springs and everything. Built like a freaking brick shithouse. When you put it down, it *stays* put. And clicky! Oh, so clicky!
I was lucky enough to score a replacement keyboard for free the other day. It's not a steel-plate wing o' deth, but it's got the ALPS keys. I figure I can swap out the guts.
For others with this sort of fanaticism for great keyboards, this website looks promising: they repair keyboards, and it sure looks like they're using ALPS keyswitches in their custom keyboards. I'm particularly horny for the one with the rubber joystick-mouse on it: [PC Keyboard].
If anyone does buy a keyboard from PCKeyboard, how about writing a Slashdot review?
--
Not a chance. The Robertson screw already rules the intelligent builder's world. Square-head recessed slot, that provides far better torque than hex, plus can't be stripped-out. Three standard sizes, and common as mud... if you're in one of the more advanced sort of civilizations, at any rate.
Canadian invention, I think. Part of our insidious plan to take over the world, eh? Get with the program already; resistance is futile.
--
Well, all I can say is that the Canadian equivalent worked marvelously.
--
You can remove your name from the lists.
A good 90% of mass-marketing companies belong to the Direct Marketing Association. The DMA has an opt-out list, which its members must abide by.
PLEASE!! Go to these web pages and learn how to do it:
[Privacy Council Opt-Out Page]
Read the entire page. There are links to your DMV, to credit bureaus, to the DMA... everyone important.
--
And, because your name and address are in the envelope, so that you can be removed from the mailing list, the post office will have your ass for mailing it. Yes, they have rules about what you can mail. No, you can't mail tsatsiki without using a proper container (which, naturally, the recipient wouldn't open, not being utterly stupid.)
--
Many reasons for this experiment... but the most obvious one is this:
NASA is run by men.
I mean, come on! What guy reading this article didn't get a hard-on at the idea of, basically, slamming a volkswagon beetle travelling 20 000mph into solid rock? This is way fucking better than dropping old computer monitors from the top of a building, shooting old hard drives with armour-piercing bullets or taking a sledgehammer to the laser printer!
Now, if *women* were running NASA, we'd have all sorts of namby-pamby cuddling stuff. Blast hell out of a comet? Dear, no, let's capture it and bring it back to earth! Smash a comet that's going to strike the earth? My, my, no! Let's attach booster rockets to it, and redirect the poor thing!
Rock on, NASA! Beat shit outta stuff for us -- just make sure you take lotsa pictures!
--
There are, I think, two ways to view Jobs' comments:
:-)
Either he was truly shocked and disgusted with the situations he was encountering...
OR
He was trying to re-invent or re-market himself.
If truly the former, I think I'd buy stock in Apple: that kind of reaction to idiocy should result in him digging deeper, kicking ass and making things Right.
If the latter, then I'd run from the stock: nothing will change, he'll lose respect, and the whole thing will go down the crapper.
This is Jobs we're talking about... so *either* scenario is equally likely. How much do I feel like gambling today...?
--
The government doesn't need to be your enemy, *IF* you have a socially-responsible government that is accountable to the people.
But this idea begins to sound like the word "socialism," which the American public has been brainwashed to believe is bad.
At this point, I believe it's too late for the American government to be changed toward a socially-responsible model. The Corporations own and control the government, now, and they will most emphatically *not* give up that control.
The sad truth is that the American public will receive only those socially-responsible programs and benefits that the Corporations determine are best for advancing their own goals.
In short, y'all are fucked. Get used to getting shafted!
--
Just figure it's worth pointing out that the tax is going to pay for, in *this* order:
-- a new government office that is responsible for administering the tax.
and
-- a new RIAA office that is responsible for distributing the money that's left over.
*If* there is any money left after RIAA processes it, the money goes to artists in proportion to their sales.
--
Logical? Pah!
I got no problem paying a tax on pirating CDs, but I sure as hell have a problem with my tax money going to fund a useless damn government administration department for the administering tax, going to fund a useless damn recording industry department for doling out what pittance is left over, and going to fund that goddamn Celine Dion who's going to get whatever few pennies remain.
--
The consuming public has ultimate power. If enough people refuse to participate in supporting a product through its purchase, the product will disappear from the market.
The key, as with anything, is that enough people have to do it.
If the public would get half a fucking clue, it could enact real, significant, positive and long-lasting change in the way our governments and corporations operate.
But it's the frog-in-boiling-water thing: until things get so excrebly untolerable that the mass public literally can not stand it any more, they'll put up with the moderately intolerable.
Which is to say, that which is untolerable, generally isn't. People adapt, get used to it, suck it down, and live with it.
It's a pretty fucking sorry state of affairs, and it certainly makes one worry for the fate of future generations. Will the mass public demand ecological change, in time to keep the environment from going kaput? Will the mass public demand government change, in time to keep democracy from becoming lenient corporate dictatorship? Will the the mass public demand freedom to view/listen to media as desired, in time to keep it from becoming a pay-per-view, each-view, each-person event?
Frankly, I doubt it. The mass public is too apathetic. It's gonna be a bugger apologizing to our kids for letting things get as bad as they will...
--
I am *NOT* arguing for legitimized theft. I said absolutely *nothing* to indicate that the Internet should be a free-for-all of piracy.
What I clearly stated is that getting upset with the government is wrong-headed, because it's owned by the Corporations. Not having the ability to influence our own government, we must instead influence the Corporations.
It's only by entering a dialog with the Corporations that we will achieve a mutually-beneficial compromise. And the only way to get the Corporations to enter a dialog (instead of bumfucking us by purchasing our government from us) is to boycott them and write a letter telling them why you're boycotting them and what they can do differently to win your support back.
This is *not* saying that the Corporations must support rampant piracy.
Now, if you're perfectly happy to allow Corporations to buy your government from you, and perfectly happy to have those Corporations purchase draconian laws that may or may not harm your ability to use the products you purchase, then you are perfectly free to not boycott those Corporations. In fact, it is your duty to send them an extra twenty bucks, to help them achieve your goals.
For the rest of us, it is imperative that we (a) educate ourselves regarding the political and social actions taken by Corporations; (b) consciously decide to support or not support them, by purchasing or steadfastedly not purchasing their products; and (c) spreading the word.
If we do not become active consumers, we will become passive slaves to Corporate desires.
--
That's dumb. If you marked outside the circle, you wouldn't see your mark. Not seeing the mark, you'd try again.
If the outside area weren't black, then you *would* see your mark, and might think that it doesn't matter that it's outside the circle.
--
Nah. Redundant isn't as important to weed out as the shitloads of idiot spams and trolls. I'd much rather read two well-written messages addressing the same point, than fifty poorly-written messages that contain no useful content at all. IMO, YMMV. Do feel free to steal the sig and use it to promote your view.
--
...is that most, if not all, of the posts are focusing on *government* control of the Internet.
Sorry, guys, but that's a dead-wrong approach. The only governments that are directly squelching the Internet are a few totalitarian regimes with far worse problems of human rights violations than just a bit of Internet-blocking.
No, for most of us Internet users, the problem is not with government control: it's with Corporate control. That these corporations may weild the government as a weapon against us it irrelevant: the fact remains that it's the EULAs, MPAAs, RIAAs and suchlike that are squishing hell out of our 'net freedoms.
The government never gave two shakes about whether you and I swapped software, music or video. Only the Corporate owners cared, and they pressured/bought the changes the government made to our laws.
If you want the Internet to remain free, you've got to battle it on two fronts: you *must* pressure your government into slacking off, and you *must* pressure Corporations into backing off.
And the only way to do the latter is to cause them financial harm. Corporations must ultimately be responsible to their shareholders, and their shareholders demand profits.
So you need to get serious about boycotting, serious about spreading the boycott, and serious about letting the Corporations know that you're boycotting them, and what they need to do differently to win back your financial support.
If you don't take those steps, you--and your use of the Internet--is fucked. Kiss all the freedoms you've come to enjoy on the net goodbye.
--
At my polling station, there were two people at the table. They wore name tags stating their name and their party affiliation.
--
Yah, shit, now he has only $600 000. Unless he wisely sold stock earlier, in which case he likely has well over a million bucks kicking around.
Lessee... $1 000 000 invested to earn 10% annual interest = $100 000 a year for life, without touching the principle.
Shit, ya know, I think I could go for that.
--
Sounds to me like ol' Bill needs to be beaten, all right... with a frigging Louisville Slugger.
Why is it our culture/society puts up with destructive assholes like him?
--
I'm really hoping that this thread is just tomfoolery, because they could just have easily written "...of VA Linux Systems, Inc. (''Binky'')." It's just saying that, for shorthand, they're going to use another name.
I'd like to have seen the Binky approach myself. "Your Honour, we claim that Binky told lies to the plaintiffs!"
--
The residents of Nunavut voted on the name "Bob," but the government told them that that name wasn't allowed. So, yes, now they're Nunavut, and, yes, they are "created."
It seems to me that the USA has an orderly system of schools, despite having ten times the population of Canada. Is there any reason the school gymnasium couldn't be used as a polling station for the immediate area?
You see, the key to success hasn't anything to do with size: it's to do with having the polling stations a reasonable size.
My town's main polling station had about a dozen tables set up. Even if *every* person in this town--including children--were to have voted at this station (but we had three), each table would have processed only 2500 people during the day. It'd take well under and hour-and-a-half to tally those votes.
The hand-counted ballots aren't a problem: the USA can do that.
The problem is with a godawful ballot design, voter registration irregularities, voters being hassled by The Man while heading to the polling station, ballots lockboxes being lost, etcetera, etcetera.
Fixing the ballots would be a first, and probably small, step in fixing the tragicomically broken US election system.
--