interesting piece of history there, the page and comments are from 2001. probably wasn't that far from the truth then.
reality today is that linux supports most hardware and media formats, The easy first step is to boot a live Cd and check what hardware works or not. Easyubuntu or automatix will take care of the media issues in ubuntu for example.
if hardware isn't working you have a number of choices. replace the hardware for something that does work. investigate the problems in getting a particular piece of hardware to work-feel confident you can do it?
you might want to consider using the hardware in windows in a dualboot,vm or remotely/locally on another system or just stick with windows.
if you need to use a piece of windows software then just use it.
However considering the exploits,malware and virus problems which are an everyday hazard from using the internet with windows, plus the remote auditing of your hardware and software from WGA. using the internet from linux seems to me to be a distinct advantage of the linux desktop.
consider that making a backup of windows in a VM is just copying the contents of one folder to another. so even if do get your vmwindows install hosed you could be less than a minute away from having a working clean windows system again.
yes i like ubuntu no it cant do everything I can do in windows but ubuntu doesn't mind me spending time in windows and positively improves my experience in windows.
so its not a case of one or the other it's a case of using the best tool for the job.
Stereotypes, are not necessarily racially based but culturally based it just so happens that race happens to map to a large extent on culture. ie The majority of people with german cultural values will be white germans.
In Poland for instance there is a strong focus on academic achievement, Teenagers want things, parents want the best for thier children and its recognised entering the workplace highly qualified and motivated is vitally important especially in an economy with high unemployment and extremely low wages. Asian family values tend to be similar probably from the same economic necessity.
How many of us here on slashdot put in 100% at school, do you think you were capable of higher grades? now I guess I am sterotyping slash dotters as being western world citizens with a relatively soft society that is you could get by without working too hard, you wouldn't be starving in fact theres a pretty good chance you're overweight. it's a generalisation a stereotype but to what percentage of this group would it apply?
The black sportsman is a stereotype developed in a culture where xenophobic white men control the employment and education opportunities, at least in sport colour is no bar to achieving excellence.
now to get back to what arnie said about latina's, he didn't express himself very well but I think what he was refering to was a mental energy a passion for life and he's right that is very sexy and it's complimentary. You will always have stereotypes generalisations but as long as they are positive stereotypes then its a good thing its a respect across cultures and within cultures.
it will almost certainly never happen, you have been used and abused probably intentionally to provide a list of visitor ip addresses with no intention of downloading the edonkey client. why else would slashdot and the original story both link to the edonkey site.
visiting the site after reading the news story is normal legal behaviour, not evidence that you have shared anything or grounds to investigate further.
of course if your running ubuntu you wouldnt have any reason to visit the site even if you did want to get a p2p client for the edonkey network.
the usage of both these terms seems to occur when talking about multiple occurances of a general type. not multiple occurances of an individual type. that is windows boxen is a collection of pc's running windows on a range of different hardware and virii are a collection of a range of different types of virus.
It certainly appears to be an attempt to distinguish between the physical box and the abstract idea of a box running a particular type of o/s. or just be cute... virii seems to correspond with the idea of a multitude of different viruses (and doesn't sound as ugly no spitting please).
It's worth considering that both box and virus are borrowed terms and its appropriate that new words evolve to better suit the needs of the people using them. mp3 player, mobile, pda, dvd(player/ recorder) gui. All commonly used (maybe cell phone is prefered in the usa).
sometimes words just get thier original meanings lost, it's hard to be gay and hetrosexual these days.
The point is it is already too late to put the virii back in the boxen. They are both out in the wild and spreading fast. Protest as much as you want, you already understand the terms virii and boxen in fact its likely non english speakers understand and use these terms too.
unfortunately viriis and boxens could be the next step... would it be better if we were sheeps and not men (of both genders).
Interesting point about pewter vessels yes they used to contain lead but http://www.pewtergallery.com/about.html newer pewter vessels are lead free (Britania Pewter).
It seems theres a danger from certain glazes used on pots and Lead Crystal is also a dodgy thing to use. it seems storing your whiskey in a lead crystal decanter may also be bad for your health.
not something i had taken note of before so thanks for the post.
most losses are not out the front door but out the back, however most stores concentrate on the front door
how store security is tackled depends entirely on the rights within that country falsely detaining someone can cost around 15,000 euro in some countrys, making physical contact with someone can be deemed assault and also cost 1000's of euro's.
In other countrys you have to check in your bags and a security guard will check your shopping against the reciept as a matter of course.
of course niether of the countrys i am thinking off are the usa, your rights may vary.
theres a mistaken belief that languages are essentially the same but with different words. any use of babel fish soon should clear up that misconception. language isnt just words and grammar its a different way of thinking. concepts are not identical between languages. Often the scope of use of a word is vastly different between languages even when you think the two words match.
It is really weird to switch languages properly, basic 'holiday' translation is swop this word for that and then you can come up with a phrase in another language... generally gramatically incorrect and not meaning quite what you meant to say but usually close enough so a native speaker of that language will be able to guess what you meant.
I don't know how true this is for other people but as someone who attempts to speak two languages its kind of like having two minds. My English mind has to take a backseat while my Polish mind is conversing basically its like my polish brain takes the driving seat while my english brain takes a rest. My English thought processes slip away and my Polish thought processes take over. Maybe actors feel the same way I don't know. Interestingly enough what is really difficult is translation understanding in one language doesn't necessitate the ability to translate that understanding into a different language.
what i am trying to say that using a particular language utilises a similar but different thought process concepts are not necessarily identical. perhaps its a sense of identity.
I am really struggling to explain as I am not fully bilingual, ( my english mind likes to be in control).
my point is that good quality translation is very difficult to achieve and microsofts proposed patent puts a barrier in front of true innovation. Microsoft is highly unlikely to develop excellent linguistic software for more than a few languages. This is a task for highly skilled localised development but will this development take place when faced with Microsofts patent in place?
The only plus of this patent is that its effect will be limited to area's which recognise software patents. I wonder if there is going to be a growing software divide as european and asian developers are left free to inovate without threat of law suit and american developers are unable to produce equivilent or better software due to the shackles of software patents.
It surely is an amazing thing where american developers give a 20 year head start to the rest of the world in the software industry.
why does this put me in mind of Brazil. could it be the that it's a case of the user having to conform to the system - no matter how obviously wrong it is.
Konqueror lets you see the contents of two tabs at the same time splitting vertically or horizontally.
to overcome this limitation in firefox i often use the search box just to hold some info. (example my router dhcp clients mac addresses are given as 00:56:ab:cd:00... mac address filtering is on a seperate page and expects 0056abcd00... so copy and paste doesn't quite cut it) with the two pages side by side its easy.
Re:Maybe Joe Schmoe shouldn't be using a computer.
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AOL 9.0 Called Badware
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Diesel and petrol is easy to get wrong especially when you fuel up both types, you must know someone who got it wrong once.
Not doing or knowing the checks can be expensive. A large proportion of roadside breakdowns are due to overheated engines. Holiday traffic (fully laden on a 100 mile + journey) if your on the road a lot you see it regularly, broken down and waiting for the recovery service. Are they doing just fine?
You don't need to know anything about a car to drive it, if its an automatic gearbox you don't even need to be able to select a suitable gear. What is needed is a coping mechanism a strategy to make up for your lack of knowledge.
Joining a breakdown service, having a car serviced prior to taking a long journey. Having a knowlegable friend (especially useful in helping you not get ripped off with excessive garage bills) are all coping mechanisms.
So really what joe needs for his computer is a coping mechanism. in both cases with his computer or his car, a little knowledge helps keep small problems small.
I think your being overly paranoid, who in thier right mind would want to 'pull a sony' on Linux. discovery of a rootkit would be rapid, fixed and the company that did it would never get its products on Linux ever again.
To be honest I feel better about a company that is prepared to invest time and money on a linux version of thier product. Of course it's better still when they open source thier product and best of all when they open source thier product and work with the linux community.
Flash is just one of many things which needs to just work to attract new users to linux.
New users are important to attract hardware and software developers to support the linux platform. If you look at firefox as an example, there are now enough firefox users to ensure that the majority of sites are accessable with firefox.
more users == greater incentive to develop for linux, which makes things easier for the rest of us. not everyone can be a developer but most of us could write an email thanking a manufacturer or developer for contributing to Linux, or explaing why you bought a competing product over thiers due to lack of support on thier part for linux.
Re:Maybe Joe Schmoe shouldn't be using a computer.
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AOL 9.0 Called Badware
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a user should at least know what type of engine is in thier car, so they put the right fuel in.
how to check the oil level, radiator coolant and screen wash levels and tyre pressures and tire condition are also pretty useful basic skills to have or at least know to ask someone to check them.
At the very least recognise when the red oil light or the charging light or the engine management light comes on that they have a problem.
recognise a change in sound, excessive play in the steering, poorly performing brakes, rumbling driveshafts especially on full lock are all signs that something is likely to be wrong.
how about just recognising that a service is due after x amount of months or miles.
some of these faults are just expensive to fix if the user doesn't take any action, some of them will leave the user stranded miles from home.
some of these faults are potentially lethal both to the user and people around him. even the humble screen wash bottle. If you have driven down a salted road and your screen wash has run out. you try seeing where you are going with a layer of crud on your windscreen. cleaning your lights might help too.
you still think all a driver needs to know is how to drive?
In the good old days of attended service at petrol stations, The attendent didn't just fill the car with fuel, You also got a few checks on the state of your car, maybe even get some advice about some of the small problems before they became big problems. Now you are expected to deal with these problems all on your own.
Pretty good parallel with the state of things with computer users too. Maybe computers need to be serviced too every X amount of hours of use or every 3 Months.
Now there is a potential plan for system building retailers, include a 3 month and 6 month back to base system check in the price.
Further service checks at £10, $15 whatever feels comfortable the important thing is its got to be affordable.
Just a few basic health check is all thats needed, if a system comes in thats in a really bad state then explain to the customer and quote a price to repair it.
book them in for a further check 3 months down the line (ideally get them to pay in advance so they remember) for system checking its mostly waiting for tests to finish.
To be honest thats part of the infrastructure thats largely missing in IT run servicing like a dentist regular maintainance checks every 3 months. There's a huge number of windows users that would appreciate a service like that.
It might be that for an initial service you might charge say twice your normal service charge. This would cover the time to set up initial records. This would also give joe the incentive to book and pay for his 3 month service in advance. (if he doesn't then later he pays the same as an initial service). a clean up is almost certain to result in a faster more responsive system so joe should always feel happy with the results of course a really hosed system will require more work but then you can bill for that appropriately. according to how you recover the system.
There are a lot of reasons for working on linux, but one good reason is because you can. The whole system is open to be explored. Then there are the challenges, a piece of hardware without linux support, a protocol undocumented, reverse engineering is another area for fun. Yes fun!
The GPL keeps things open you want to find out how your audio system works for example you can under linux. windows is a whole different ball game, it's closed unless you work for microsoft and are paid to work on a particular aspect of windows you are not going to be able to explore.
Why do we care about widespread adoption of linux, pretty much because it puts pressure and incentive on hardware manufacturers to open up to us. Manufacturers who support open source will get the sale over those that don't.
Theres a lot more I could say but you get the point Linux is fun.
yes GPS does mess up I actually use a Garmin Etrex which maintains a recent record of where when and how fast.
Glitches occur but normally its a speed of around 400 to 700Mph also the track ignores roads completely. So glitches are pretty obviously glitches.
On the otherhand this device is irrelevent. children do not drive cars, adults do.
16 is not a child but a young adult. Old enough to enlist in most countrys. If someone drives like an idiot then it isn't up to the parents to take the keys away. The State should take the licience away.
If your going to give someone adult responsibility then treat them like an adult!
I use a Garmin GPS unit with my Sat Nav and it logs the data about once a second. It's possible to pull that information off and use it with (mapping software I forget the name)to recreate a journey in 3d.
Anyway one day i was travelling somewhere and as I went round a roundabout the car went into a spin doing a 180 luckily the traffic was light and no damage done.
when i got home I downloaded the data from the GPS which showed the spin quite clearly the location on the map and the recorded speed in mph. I was travelling at around 28mph when the car span out. Basically the incident was caused by spilt fuel and I wasn't travelling that quickly.
while that particular information was interesting and reassuring for me personally, there is way to much information being recorded.
Consider this system and tell me why it wouldn't work
take two magnets one hung from a thread the other fixed with like poles facing. without the magnetic fields the natural tendency will be for the magnet on the thread to settle over the top of the fixed magnet. However because of the repulsion of the two magnets the dangling magnet will be deflected and will start to orbit the fixed magnet as gravity trys to pull the magnet towards its lowest position. no point on the moving magnets orbit will be any more stable than any other.
place a coil of wire around the outside of the moving magnet and you probably would find electricity is generated within the coil.
is there a point at which the moving magnet can come to rest or would it remain unstable and rotating generating electricity?
Ok you would be mad to try using a zx81 to run a nuclear power station but consider a PLC tends to have memory in the 1 - 4k range and racks full of IO cards. If I remember correctly the z80 cpu could address 64k of address's as I/O or memory. 1 bit is all it takes to operate a valve or a motor or read a sensor. 8-16 bits for an analog input or output.
while the ad's seem far fetched in reality the PLC's actually being used will not be that far removed from a ZX81.
for further reading try googling for words like wonderware allen bradley omron SCADA. simple PLC's run most of the worlds automated processes.
I've not used the pci but the pcmcia just needs plugging in to work with ubuntu.(However not advertised on the link)
what will it take for a manufacturer to admit to producing linux compatable hardware even usb memory sticks often will not say anywhere on the packaging linux compatable (LG does though).
I vote for a TUX mark and rating Tux mark means it will work under linux somehow. and a rating from 1 to 5 5 being reserved for fully cooperative manufacturer who provides drivers and source code.
Tux assured could be quite a significant factor in sales.
You misunderstand the GPL, the GPL is ensuring you have the freedom to make a copy the Freedom to Modify the copy or make something utilising the GPL'ed work. What it explicitly denies is turning around and selling the GPL'd work as your own and imposing your own terms on it.
interestingly enough the GPL kind of reflects a common attitude, making a copy is generally ok with a large number of people making a copy and making a living out of selling that copy isn't.
years ago people just placed stuff in the public domain and that was that. Anyone remember fred fish and the fish disks. or Aminet.
The problem with just giving stuff away is that it can then be used to create commercial products and the original authors don't see a penny for thier contribution to the commercial product and are expected to pay for the commercial product if they want to use it. That sux but it's Legal.
Actually a common philosophy regarding copying is.
It's ok to make a copy and give it away for free. It's not ok to make a copy and use it to make a fast buck. (if anyone should be making money out of it it should be the originators. In the case of Music thats the Band, um the song writer).
We all know that in the majority of cases what the band gets out of a CD sale if they are in a RIAA affiliated label is very little and if someone else wrote the original music, its even less. In the software world it tends to be even worse, most of what is coded is a work for hire. You don't get to make you rich you get to make someone else rich...
Anyone read the apple story picked up on that chinese workers are working for $300 a year. Does anyone think its justifiable to take $20 for an audio CD from these guys. It's got to be a miserable existance where every small pleasure costs. It's what the RIAA would like thou.
The final word has to be if you really like a song and can afford it pay for it, but if you can't don't beat yourself up over it. The RIAA will do that.
If you look at the history of unix, this was an operating system developed by geeks for geeks people gave freely to unix because they wanted to because it was cool. Then Bell Labs decided it was thiers and took it away and put a price on it and charged the same people who contributed to unix.
That was the slap in the face, thats the reason for the GPL to ensure that the door doesn't get slammed in the face of developers again. The GPL is brilliant and the linux kernel being GPL'ed is even better. nothing less than a GPL'd Kernel would work.
If you look at the SCO battle. The consequences of SCO winning would turn Linux into a propriatory Operating System. Thats what SCO attempted (is attempting) to do take ownership of Linux.
RMS might seem an odd ball a fanatic to a lot of people but once you get it, the freedom to develop and use software and hardware as you want to is something RMS has battled for years to keep and reclaim for us. You can use Linux now for most of what you want to do, and VMware will take care of most of the rest. Gaming is mostly covered by consoles or if you insist a dual boot.
ok you now have a thread which is visable to everyone and you haven't even got a link to your website. you would be getting clicks through to your product right now and a percentage would be buying what exactly I don't know...
I am not a gamer, I didn't read the article, I did read the comments. Addiction or excessive gaming, It doesn't matter what you call it. I think I over use the net, I spend too much time reading slashdot and not enough time on other things. Socially I am reclusive, my weight has gone up and my room is a mess. I keep saying i will tidy it up but it doesn't happen.
I have to conclude that I have a very real problem, I don't think you can limit ingrained behaviour patterns just to gaming, computer and net use. It is common for people to habitually repeat the same thing over and over. People seem to like routine, ritual behaviour is quite ingrained we all tend to have at least a cycle of work, but often that cyclic nature is expressed out of work too. it probably isn't ground hog day but ground hog week - maybe.
how predictable is your life? I think its kind off a comfort zone thing. I think it's human nature to develop a schedule, a predefined set of choices. it's also pretty boring really. Maybe its being in your comfort zone that makes things addictive?
Is it a good thing ? I don't know i guess it depends on the balance of your activities. Some people can't live without thier soap opera's for instance. Are they nuts, or if its your significant other are you glad that leaves you time for your particular addiction?
So really we need to ask ourselves what are we neglecting ? Are we happy with the current balance of our lives? what can we do to change it, what needs to give? One thing is certain time is a limited resource for everyone rich or poor, evaluating what we do with that time once in a while probably is time well spent?
I can understand how someones online success could be more attractive than thier offline reality- it's also widely said that there is a lot of boring repetative stuff to do to get advancement. Would this amount of effort have rewards in your offline world? sadly I think probably to a far lesser degree and slower too.
Anyway It's a good idea to take a few minutes to reflect on where you are with your life. Me I am going to get up take a shower ect and tackle this mess... well after i finish reading slashdot:( might not write another reply and skip meta moderation,.. 20 minutes tops... damn i do have a problem.
silly putty, does have interesting properties. it can flow like a liquid and act like a solid when pushed rapidly. whats that good for polishing internal holes if you mix an abrasive in with it. Which might help get the best out of high performance engines.
it's an interesting material wonder how it would cope with a leak in a pressurised container could it contain or slow that leak for a period of time.
"The bill would also establish a "postgrant opposition" system that would allow outsiders to dispute the validity of a patent before a board of administrative judges within the Patent Office, rather than in the traditional court system. The idea behind such a proceeding, also endorsed by the Patent Office, is to stave off excessive litigation.
The Senate version appears to give broader leeway for such challenges, offering up to 12 months--as opposed to the House's nine-month window--after the patent is awarded for challengers to file a "petition for cancellation." That time period could then be widened even further, with a second window available if the petitioner "establishes a substantial reason to believe that the continued existence of the challenged claim causes or is likely to cause the petitioner significant economic harm." Challengers would be limited, however, in the issues they could raise after that first year expires." from the article
Economic harm, seems to be potentially a way of blocking a large number of interested parties even the original inventor. seems that gpled software could be vunerable to this, it's free therefore no economic harm and no standing to challenge the patent. who can fight back in this situation ?
I will leave it upto someone else to explore the pitfalls of that little idea
Sorry I don't understand how you came to your conclusion that gordon brown is setting up tony blair.
I thought the commonly held belief is that tony blair intends to hand gordon brown a poisoned chalice. If only Mr blair would just go, hand over the leadership to his successor (probably gordon brown) and give him a chance to repair some of the damage caused by Mr Blair and his policies and impliment a few of his own.
maybe it is the fate of all politicians to initially do some positive things and progressively degenerate. It would be a shame to see gordon brown. placed in the same position as john major following after Thatcher.
He already has the hurdle of not being English to overcome, sad but there is an obnoxiousness about the English which is demonstrated everytime they step of the Island. It isn't 100% but you see it in every popular holiday destination with drunken yobs at one extreme, and the pretentions of the English middle class at the other.
Having grown up in England and having to live through Thatchers Meglomania laying waste to many communities, I do not wish to return to those dark days under Tory rule.
Britain's are generally comfortably off under labour rule, while at the same time being monitored and having individual freedoms stripped away.
Tony Blair probably stopped being an asset to this country 3 or 4 years ago. The memories of maggie and ineffective tory leaders has kept him in place. Now several years down the line those that did live under maggies rule do not remember quite so clearly what she did and the younger ones have nothing to compare Tony against but are seeing his failings. Mr Cameroon probably will be the next pm if tony doesn't hand over soon. If gordon gets his chance before having to face a general election, he might even win it.
On the otherhand as an individual britain now is a perfect time to immigrate, for me ireland looks a good choice, france and germany holland all have an appeal but with the barrier of language. The rate of Britains leaving to find a more agreeable climate to live in is almost certainly rising. To anyone with the sense to realise that we have one life and a limited number of years, this should make perfect sense. There is no nirvana, I am just glad we have the freedom to choose from a number of countrys where we can live. unfortunately for the majority of slashdot readers - they don't.
To the Parent may i congratulate you on an excellent insightful post (apart from the last paragraph) My view is probably to simplistic, but if you hadn't guessed- I am leaving.
Slashdot Mirror
interesting piece of history there, the page and comments are from 2001.
probably wasn't that far from the truth then.
reality today is that linux supports most hardware and media formats, The easy first step is to boot a live Cd and check what hardware works or not. Easyubuntu or automatix will take care of the media issues in ubuntu for example.
if hardware isn't working you have a number of choices.
replace the hardware for something that does work.
investigate the problems in getting a particular piece of hardware to work-feel confident you can do it?
you might want to consider using the hardware in windows in a dualboot,vm or remotely/locally on another system or just stick with windows.
if you need to use a piece of windows software then just use it.
However considering the exploits,malware and virus problems which are an everyday hazard from using the internet with windows, plus the remote auditing of your hardware and software from WGA. using the internet from linux seems to me to be a distinct advantage of the linux desktop.
consider that making a backup of windows in a VM is just copying the contents of one folder to another.
so even if do get your vmwindows install hosed you could be less than a minute away from having a working clean windows system again.
yes i like ubuntu no it cant do everything I can do in windows but ubuntu doesn't mind me spending time in windows and positively improves my experience in windows.
so its not a case of one or the other it's a case of using the best tool for the job.
Stereotypes, are not necessarily racially based but culturally based it just so happens that race happens to map to a large extent on culture. ie The majority of people with german cultural values will be white germans.
In Poland for instance there is a strong focus on academic achievement, Teenagers want things, parents want the best for thier children and its recognised entering the workplace highly qualified and motivated is vitally important especially in an economy with high unemployment and extremely low wages.
Asian family values tend to be similar probably from the same economic necessity.
How many of us here on slashdot put in 100% at school, do you think you were capable of higher grades?
now I guess I am sterotyping slash dotters as being western world citizens with a relatively soft society
that is you could get by without working too hard, you wouldn't be starving in fact theres a pretty good chance you're overweight.
it's a generalisation a stereotype but to what percentage of this group would it apply?
The black sportsman is a stereotype developed in a culture where xenophobic white men control the employment and education opportunities, at least in sport colour is no bar to achieving excellence.
now to get back to what arnie said about latina's, he didn't express himself very well but I think what he was refering to was a mental energy a passion for life and he's right that is very sexy and it's complimentary. You will always have stereotypes generalisations but as long as they are positive stereotypes then its a good thing its a respect across cultures and within cultures.
it will almost certainly never happen, you have been used and abused probably intentionally to provide a list of visitor ip addresses with no intention of downloading the edonkey client. why else would slashdot and the original story both link to the edonkey site.
;~)
visiting the site after reading the news story is normal legal behaviour, not evidence that you have shared anything or grounds to investigate further.
of course if your running ubuntu you wouldnt have any reason to visit the site even if you did want to get a p2p client for the edonkey network.
however $30 million buys a lot of stamps.
virii and boxen
...
the usage of both these terms seems to occur when talking about multiple occurances of a general type.
not multiple occurances of an individual type.
that is windows boxen is a collection of pc's running windows on a range of different hardware and virii are a collection of a range of different types of virus.
It certainly appears to be an attempt to distinguish between the physical box and the abstract idea of a box running a particular type of o/s. or just be cute
virii seems to correspond with the idea of a multitude of different viruses (and doesn't sound as ugly no spitting please).
It's worth considering that both box and virus are borrowed terms and its appropriate that new words evolve to better suit the needs of the people using them.
mp3 player, mobile, pda, dvd(player/ recorder) gui. All commonly used (maybe cell phone is prefered in the usa).
sometimes words just get thier original meanings lost, it's hard to be gay and hetrosexual these days.
The point is it is already too late to put the virii back in the boxen. They are both out in the wild and spreading fast. Protest as much as you want, you already understand the terms virii and boxen in fact its likely non english speakers understand and use these terms too.
unfortunately viriis and boxens could be the next step...
would it be better if we were sheeps and not men (of both genders).
Interesting point about pewter vessels yes they used to contain lead but
h an.html
http://www.pewtergallery.com/about.html newer pewter vessels are lead free (Britania Pewter).
A little more research brought this page up
http://www.mja.com.au/public/issues/xmas98/phan/p
It seems theres a danger from certain glazes used on pots and Lead Crystal is also a dodgy thing to use.
it seems storing your whiskey in a lead crystal decanter may also be bad for your health.
not something i had taken note of before so thanks for the post.
most losses are not out the front door but out the back, however most stores concentrate on the front door
how store security is tackled depends entirely on the rights within that country
falsely detaining someone can cost around 15,000 euro in some countrys, making physical contact with someone can be deemed assault and also cost 1000's of euro's.
In other countrys you have to check in your bags and a security guard will check your shopping against the reciept as a matter of course.
of course niether of the countrys i am thinking off are the usa, your rights may vary.
theres a mistaken belief that languages are essentially the same but with different words.
any use of babel fish soon should clear up that misconception. language isnt just words and grammar its a different way of thinking. concepts are not identical between languages. Often the scope of use of a word is vastly different between languages even when you think the two words match.
It is really weird to switch languages properly, basic 'holiday' translation is swop this word for that and then you can come up with a phrase in another language... generally gramatically incorrect and not meaning quite what you meant to say but usually close enough so a native speaker of that language will be able to guess what you meant.
I don't know how true this is for other people but as someone who attempts to speak two languages its kind of like having two minds. My English mind has to take a backseat while my Polish mind is conversing basically its like my polish brain takes the driving seat while my english brain takes a rest. My English thought processes slip away and my Polish thought processes take over. Maybe actors feel the same way I don't know. Interestingly enough what is really difficult is translation understanding in one language doesn't necessitate the ability to translate that understanding into a different language.
what i am trying to say that using a particular language utilises a similar but different thought process concepts are not necessarily identical. perhaps its a sense of identity.
I am really struggling to explain as I am not fully bilingual, ( my english mind likes to be in control).
my point is that good quality translation is very difficult to achieve and microsofts proposed patent puts a barrier in front of true innovation. Microsoft is highly unlikely to develop excellent linguistic software for more than a few languages. This is a task for highly skilled localised development but will this development take place when faced with Microsofts patent in place?
The only plus of this patent is that its effect will be limited to area's which recognise software patents. I wonder if there is going to be a growing software divide as european and asian developers are left free to inovate without threat of law suit and american developers are unable to produce equivilent or better software due to the shackles of software patents.
It surely is an amazing thing where american developers give a 20 year head start to the rest of the world in the software industry.
why does this put me in mind of Brazil.
could it be the that it's a case of the user having to conform to the system - no matter how obviously wrong it is.
except there is an alternative, Linux.
Konqueror lets you see the contents of two tabs at the same time splitting vertically or horizontally.
to overcome this limitation in firefox i often use the search box just to hold some info.
(example my router dhcp clients mac addresses are given as 00:56:ab:cd:00... mac address filtering is on a seperate page and expects 0056abcd00... so copy and paste doesn't quite cut it) with the two pages side by side its easy.
Diesel and petrol is easy to get wrong especially when you fuel up both types, you must know someone who got it wrong once.
Not doing or knowing the checks can be expensive. A large proportion of roadside breakdowns are due to overheated engines. Holiday traffic (fully laden on a 100 mile + journey) if your on the road a lot you see it regularly, broken down and waiting for the recovery service.
Are they doing just fine?
You don't need to know anything about a car to drive it, if its an automatic gearbox you don't even need to be able to select a suitable gear. What is needed is a coping mechanism a strategy to make up for your lack of knowledge.
Joining a breakdown service, having a car serviced prior to taking a long journey. Having a knowlegable friend (especially useful in helping you not get ripped off with excessive garage bills) are all coping mechanisms.
So really what joe needs for his computer is a coping mechanism.
in both cases with his computer or his car, a little knowledge helps keep small problems small.
I think your being overly paranoid, who in thier right mind would want to 'pull a sony' on Linux.
discovery of a rootkit would be rapid, fixed and the company that did it would never get its products on Linux ever again.
To be honest I feel better about a company that is prepared to invest time and money on a linux version of thier product. Of course it's better still when they open source thier product and best of all when they open source thier product and work with the linux community.
Flash is just one of many things which needs to just work to attract new users to linux.
New users are important to attract hardware and software developers to support the linux platform. If you look at firefox as an example, there are now enough firefox users to ensure that the majority of sites are accessable with firefox.
more users == greater incentive to develop for linux, which makes things easier for the rest of us.
not everyone can be a developer but most of us could write an email thanking a manufacturer or developer for contributing to Linux, or explaing why you bought a competing product over thiers due to lack of support on thier part for linux.
a user should at least know what type of engine is in thier car, so they put the right fuel in.
how to check the oil level, radiator coolant and screen wash levels and tyre pressures and tire condition are also pretty useful basic skills to have or at least know to ask someone to check them.
At the very least recognise when the red oil light or the charging light or the engine management light comes on that they have a problem.
recognise a change in sound, excessive play in the steering, poorly performing brakes, rumbling driveshafts especially on full lock are all signs that something is likely to be wrong.
how about just recognising that a service is due after x amount of months or miles.
some of these faults are just expensive to fix if the user doesn't take any action, some of them will leave the user stranded miles from home.
some of these faults are potentially lethal both to the user and people around him.
even the humble screen wash bottle. If you have driven down a salted road and your screen wash has run out. you try seeing where you are going with a layer of crud on your windscreen. cleaning your lights might help too.
you still think all a driver needs to know is how to drive?
In the good old days of attended service at petrol stations, The attendent didn't just fill the car with fuel, You also got a few checks on the state of your car, maybe even get some advice about some of the small problems before they became big problems. Now you are expected to deal with these problems all on your own.
Pretty good parallel with the state of things with computer users too.
Maybe computers need to be serviced too every X amount of hours of use or every 3 Months.
Now there is a potential plan for system building retailers, include a 3 month and 6 month back to base system check in the price.
Further service checks at £10, $15 whatever feels comfortable the important thing is its got to be affordable.
Just a few basic health check is all thats needed, if a system comes in thats in a really bad state then explain to the customer and quote a price to repair it.
book them in for a further check 3 months down the line (ideally get them to pay in advance so they remember)
for system checking its mostly waiting for tests to finish.
To be honest thats part of the infrastructure thats largely missing in IT run servicing like a dentist regular maintainance checks every 3 months. There's a huge number of windows users that would appreciate a service like that.
It might be that for an initial service you might charge say twice your normal service charge. This would cover the time to set up initial records. This would also give joe the incentive to book and pay for his 3 month service in advance. (if he doesn't then later he pays the same as an initial service).
a clean up is almost certain to result in a faster more responsive system so joe should always feel happy with the results of course a really hosed system will require more work but then you can bill for that appropriately.
according to how you recover the system.
There are a lot of reasons for working on linux, but one good reason is because you can. The whole system is open to be explored. Then there are the challenges, a piece of hardware without linux support, a protocol undocumented, reverse engineering is another area for fun. Yes fun!
The GPL keeps things open you want to find out how your audio system works for example you can under linux.
windows is a whole different ball game, it's closed unless you work for microsoft and are paid to work on a particular aspect of windows you are not going to be able to explore.
Why do we care about widespread adoption of linux, pretty much because it puts pressure and incentive on hardware manufacturers to open up to us. Manufacturers who support open source will get the sale over those that don't.
Theres a lot more I could say but you get the point Linux is fun.
yes GPS does mess up I actually use a Garmin Etrex which maintains a recent record of where when and how fast.
Glitches occur but normally its a speed of around 400 to 700Mph also the track ignores roads completely.
So glitches are pretty obviously glitches.
On the otherhand this device is irrelevent. children do not drive cars, adults do.
16 is not a child but a young adult. Old enough to enlist in most countrys. If someone drives like an idiot then it isn't up to the parents to take the keys away. The State should take the licience away.
If your going to give someone adult responsibility then treat them like an adult!
I use a Garmin GPS unit with my Sat Nav and it logs the data about once a second. It's possible to pull that information off and use it with (mapping software I forget the name)to recreate a journey in 3d.
Anyway one day i was travelling somewhere and as I went round a roundabout the car went into a spin doing a 180 luckily the traffic was light and no damage done.
when i got home I downloaded the data from the GPS which showed the spin quite clearly the location on the map and the recorded speed in mph. I was travelling at around 28mph when the car span out. Basically the incident was caused by spilt fuel and I wasn't travelling that quickly.
while that particular information was interesting and reassuring for me personally, there is way to much information being recorded.
Consider this system and tell me why it wouldn't work
take two magnets one hung from a thread the other fixed with like poles facing. without the magnetic fields the
natural tendency will be for the magnet on the thread to settle over the top of the fixed magnet.
However because of the repulsion of the two magnets the dangling magnet will be deflected and will start to orbit the fixed magnet as gravity trys to pull the magnet towards its lowest position. no point on the moving magnets orbit will be any more stable than any other.
place a coil of wire around the outside of the moving magnet and you probably would find electricity is generated within the coil.
is there a point at which the moving magnet can come to rest or would it remain unstable and rotating generating electricity?
Ok you would be mad to try using a zx81 to run a nuclear power station but consider
a PLC tends to have memory in the 1 - 4k range and racks full of IO cards. If I remember correctly the z80 cpu could address 64k of address's as I/O or memory.
1 bit is all it takes to operate a valve or a motor or read a sensor.
8-16 bits for an analog input or output.
while the ad's seem far fetched in reality the PLC's actually being used will not be that far removed from a ZX81.
for further reading try googling for words like wonderware allen bradley omron SCADA.
simple PLC's run most of the worlds automated processes.
Edimax make the cards.
y =217
http://www.eupac.co.uk/s.nl/it.A/id.54/.f?categor
I've not used the pci but the pcmcia just needs plugging in to work with ubuntu.(However not advertised on the link)
what will it take for a manufacturer to admit to producing linux compatable hardware even usb memory sticks often will not say anywhere on the packaging linux compatable (LG does though).
I vote for a TUX mark and rating Tux mark means it will work under linux somehow. and a rating from 1 to 5
5 being reserved for fully cooperative manufacturer who provides drivers and source code.
Tux assured could be quite a significant factor in sales.
You misunderstand the GPL, the GPL is ensuring you have the freedom to make a copy the Freedom to Modify the copy or make something utilising the GPL'ed work.
What it explicitly denies is turning around and selling the GPL'd work as your own and imposing your own terms on it.
interestingly enough the GPL kind of reflects a common attitude, making a copy is generally ok with a large number of people making a copy and making a living out of selling that copy isn't.
years ago people just placed stuff in the public domain and that was that. Anyone remember fred fish and the fish disks. or Aminet.
The problem with just giving stuff away is that it can then be used to create commercial products and the original authors don't see a penny for thier contribution to the commercial product and are expected to pay for the commercial product if they want to use it. That sux but it's Legal.
Actually a common philosophy regarding copying is.
It's ok to make a copy and give it away for free.
It's not ok to make a copy and use it to make a fast buck. (if anyone should be making money out of it it should be the originators. In the case of Music thats the Band, um the song writer).
We all know that in the majority of cases what the band gets out of a CD sale if they are in a RIAA affiliated label is very little and if someone else wrote the original music, its even less. In the software world it tends to be even worse, most of what is coded is a work for hire. You don't get to make you rich you get to make someone else rich...
Anyone read the apple story picked up on that chinese workers are working for $300 a year. Does anyone think its justifiable to take $20 for an audio CD from these guys.
It's got to be a miserable existance where every small pleasure costs. It's what the RIAA would like thou.
The final word has to be if you really like a song and can afford it pay for it, but if you can't don't beat yourself up over it. The RIAA will do that.
If you look at the history of unix, this was an operating system developed by geeks for geeks people gave freely to unix because they wanted to because it was cool. Then Bell Labs decided it was thiers and took it away and put a price on it and charged the same people who contributed to unix.
That was the slap in the face, thats the reason for the GPL to ensure that the door doesn't get slammed in the face of developers again. The GPL is brilliant and the linux kernel being GPL'ed is even better. nothing less than a GPL'd Kernel would work.
If you look at the SCO battle. The consequences of SCO winning would turn Linux into a propriatory Operating System. Thats what SCO attempted (is attempting) to do take ownership of Linux.
RMS might seem an odd ball a fanatic to a lot of people but once you get it, the freedom to develop and use software and hardware as you want to is something RMS has battled for years to keep and reclaim for us. You can use Linux now for most of what you want to do, and VMware will take care of most of the rest. Gaming is mostly covered by consoles or if you insist a dual boot.
Be part of the solution and not the problem.
ok you now have a thread which is visable to everyone and you haven't even got a link to your website.
you would be getting clicks through to your product right now and a percentage would be buying what exactly I don't know...
I am not a gamer, I didn't read the article, I did read the comments.
:( might not write another reply and skip meta moderation,.. 20 minutes tops... damn i do have a problem.
Addiction or excessive gaming, It doesn't matter what you call it. I think I over use the net, I spend too much time reading slashdot and not enough time on other things. Socially I am reclusive, my weight has gone up and my room is a mess. I keep saying i will tidy it up but it doesn't happen.
I have to conclude that I have a very real problem, I don't think you can limit ingrained behaviour patterns just to gaming, computer and net use. It is common for people to habitually repeat the same thing over and over. People seem to like routine, ritual behaviour is quite ingrained we all tend to have at least a cycle of work, but often that cyclic nature is expressed out of work too. it probably isn't ground hog day but ground hog week - maybe.
how predictable is your life? I think its kind off a comfort zone thing. I think it's human nature to develop a schedule, a predefined set of choices. it's also pretty boring really. Maybe its being in your comfort zone that makes things addictive?
Is it a good thing ? I don't know i guess it depends on the balance of your activities. Some people can't live without thier soap opera's for instance. Are they nuts, or if its your significant other are you glad that leaves you time for your particular addiction?
So really we need to ask ourselves what are we neglecting ? Are we happy with the current balance of our lives?
what can we do to change it, what needs to give? One thing is certain time is a limited resource for everyone rich or poor, evaluating what we do with that time once in a while probably is time well spent?
I can understand how someones online success could be more attractive than thier offline reality- it's also widely said that there is a lot of boring repetative stuff to do to get advancement. Would this amount of effort have rewards in your offline world? sadly I think probably to a far lesser degree and slower too.
Anyway It's a good idea to take a few minutes to reflect on where you are with your life. Me I am going to get up take a shower ect and tackle this mess... well after i finish reading slashdot
silly putty, does have interesting properties.
it can flow like a liquid and act like a solid when pushed rapidly.
whats that good for polishing internal holes if you mix an abrasive in with it. Which might help get the best out of high performance engines.
it's an interesting material wonder how it would cope with a leak in a pressurised container could it contain or slow that leak for a period of time.
it also bounces and lifts ink off paper.
"The bill would also establish a "postgrant opposition" system that would allow outsiders to dispute the validity of a patent before a board of administrative judges within the Patent Office, rather than in the traditional court system. The idea behind such a proceeding, also endorsed by the Patent Office, is to stave off excessive litigation.
The Senate version appears to give broader leeway for such challenges, offering up to 12 months--as opposed to the House's nine-month window--after the patent is awarded for challengers to file a "petition for cancellation." That time period could then be widened even further, with a second window available if the petitioner "establishes a substantial reason to believe that the continued existence of the challenged claim causes or is likely to cause the petitioner significant economic harm." Challengers would be limited, however, in the issues they could raise after that first year expires." from the article
Economic harm, seems to be potentially a way of blocking a large number of interested parties even the original inventor. seems that gpled software could be vunerable to this, it's free therefore no economic harm and no standing to challenge the patent. who can fight back in this situation ?
I will leave it upto someone else to explore the pitfalls of that little idea
Sorry I don't understand how you came to your conclusion that gordon brown is setting up tony blair.
I thought the commonly held belief is that tony blair intends to hand gordon brown a poisoned chalice.
If only Mr blair would just go, hand over the leadership to his successor (probably gordon brown) and give him a chance to repair some of the damage caused by Mr Blair and his policies and impliment a few of his own.
maybe it is the fate of all politicians to initially do some positive things and progressively degenerate.
It would be a shame to see gordon brown. placed in the same position as john major following after Thatcher.
He already has the hurdle of not being English to overcome, sad but there is an obnoxiousness about the English which is demonstrated everytime they step of the Island. It isn't 100% but you see it in every popular holiday destination with drunken yobs at one extreme, and the pretentions of the English middle class at the other.
Having grown up in England and having to live through Thatchers Meglomania laying waste to many communities,
I do not wish to return to those dark days under Tory rule.
Britain's are generally comfortably off under labour rule, while at the same time being monitored and having individual freedoms stripped away.
Tony Blair probably stopped being an asset to this country 3 or 4 years ago. The memories of maggie and ineffective tory leaders has kept him in place. Now several years down the line those that did live under maggies rule do not remember quite so clearly what she did and the younger ones have nothing to compare Tony against but are seeing his failings.
Mr Cameroon probably will be the next pm if tony doesn't hand over soon. If gordon gets his chance before having to face a general election, he might even win it.
On the otherhand as an individual britain now is a perfect time to immigrate, for me ireland looks a good choice, france and germany holland all have an appeal but with the barrier of language. The rate of Britains leaving to find a more agreeable climate to live in is almost certainly rising. To anyone with the sense to realise that we have one life and a limited number of years, this should make perfect sense. There is no nirvana, I am just glad we have the freedom to choose from a number of countrys where we can live.
unfortunately for the majority of slashdot readers - they don't.
To the Parent may i congratulate you on an excellent insightful post (apart from the last paragraph) My view is probably to simplistic, but if you hadn't guessed- I am leaving.