Are you sure you are talking about a Dual USB ibook, white, 12" screen?
Look at the following picture (and the rest of the instructions). The disk does not sit under the keyboard, and requires the removal of the back of the laptop and many other screws.
One thing that annoys me is that there is no way the user can service (replace or remove) the hard disks. My ibook has suffered 2 motherboard failures, and the machine would not even boot in firewire mode. I wished I could just remove the disk, and send the laptop for service (the service people don't need to see my files!)
The laptops I owned previously (IBM and dell) both allowed me to remove the disk.
> It looks like a cheap peice of crap camera too - not at all likely to get stolen.
I bought my T4 Super for a trip to Rio. I was scared by a Brazilian friend that told me that if took my SLR, it would not make it back.
When I got the camera, I "camouflage" it by wrapping masking tape all around it (then cutting it to be able to open it). With time the masking tape has "patina" and lots of dirt/dark marks in the edges. It looks so pitiful that I think a thief will probably say "no thanks" even if I offered it to him/her:)
Not to be picky but you could have taken that photo with a large fixed lens (no necessarily a zoom).
But I fully agree with you: zooms exists because they are more convenient. I just wish some cheap digital cameras would recognize that some of us want quality photos, even at lower resolutions.
Besides, when one uses a fixed lens, one looks at the world in a different way, trying to see what "fits" in the frame, rather than trying to fit your frame to the scene: they are just different types of photography (I use zooms and fixed lenses on a regular basis).
"NASA's Spirit Rover is providing a lesson to aspiring digital photographers: Spend your money on the lens, not the pixels."
Every good photographer will tell you the same. It still amazes me that people are willing to drop Can$.5k for a digital camera, but think you are nuts for spending the same money in a lens.
Too bad the digital cameras all come with Zooms. At the same price, a zoom lens will tend to be worse than a fixed lens. An old camera, the yashica t4 super won a great reputation for its superb fixed lens (35 mm Carl Zeiss).
I have one, and I love it. It takes the best pics I have ever seen in a P&S.
During the early 90's his research was put down by other Hypermedia researchers. Their view: "we've been there, done that; your implementation is too simple, too restrictive; our research is towards two directional linking..., other systems before you are better...". His first paper was rejected by the Hypertext Conference in 1991, and he settled for a demo table in the same venue.
The key to his success is that he made it simple and free (as in beer)! Others, like Nelson's Xanadu, were too ambitious. Others, like Hypercards, Hypernotes, Hyperdisco, etc were never free.
The BBC article highlights that in one of the side boxes: "Offered free on the Net".
>In Canada, it is legal to borrow content (a CD, >movie, etc) from a friend (or stranger), and copy it for your own personal use.
The Decision by the board is interesting. It legitimizes private copying as long as 2 conditions are met:
* the copy must be made for private use (as defined in section 80 of the Copyright Act)
* it must be made into "an audio recording medium" (as defined in section 79... of the Copyright Act).
I have read the Board Decision, and it is clear that it allows people private copying onto CD-R and CD-RWs and into Mp3 players. But it does not say anything about any other kind of medium.
It also seems to pertain only to audio.
In other words, there seem to be loopholes (maybe on purpose) that explicitely state that this ruling applies only to Music and to copies made into media that pays a levy.
For example, see the following paragraph (page 21 of the ruling):
However, an audio recording medium to which no tariff applies because the Board has decided that such a medium is not of a kind ordinarily used by individuals for recording music is, in the Board' s opinion, removed from the ambit of the exemption. For instance, in Private Copying I, the Board decided that audiocassettes of less than 40 minutes do not attract a levy. Considering the wording of section 80, this means that copying music onto such cassettes infringes copyright. It is, however, for the courts of civil jurisdiction to ultimately determine whether or not there is an infringement of copyright for private copies made onto a specific medium, unless the legislator intervenes.
It pertains to tapes of less than 40 minutes, that do not pay levy.
If I understand this sentence correctly (IANAL), this means I can be sued for infridgement if I use a hard disk, for example!
For storing wires, I find that a closet is the best. Wrap the cables around the closet pole (or whatever it is called). When you don't need them, just push them to the end, so they take little space. When you need the cable, spread them on the pole and you can choose your cable with little hassle. I think a "tie" rack will be excellent for this too.
If you only have a wall, place some _big_ nails on it, and wrap the cables around it. It is way easier to find the cable you are looking for this way.
It is great that they think so! Maybe they can have another supercampaing and get _all_ the households to delete all their digital music (except, of course, that they bought from iTunes and the likes).
This could be a sword of two edges:
* The RIAA is happy and thinks that they have been succesfull and stop being annoying
* The RIAA is happy and thinks that they have been so successfull that keep doing it and doing until 100% of the market has erased all their files.
So, next time somebody calls you at home from a survey and asks you: Do you use digital music, respond, noooo, I am soo afraid of the legal consequences that I buy perfectly legal CDs and don't even lend them to my friends.
I consider the original Alien trailer one of the best ever made. It did not have voice-overs (which is part of its charm), not a single word said, it gave very few glimpses of the story and it just ended with the text In space, nobody can hear you. It kept you on the edge of your seat.
Trailers today suck! They tell you the story, they are narrated because the directors can't find a way to tease you otherwise.
The new version of the alien trailer is an example of this "new" era of trailers. Watch both and compare them. Make your own judgement.
Re:spend your money in glass and "film..".
on
Digital 35mm SLRs?
·
· Score: 1
I agree with you. The focusing of the 300 is superior to the D60. I guess after a while, you just get used to it (no alternative). I also miss the eye control (it works very well with me on my ElanIIe).
Finally, the original poster will have to choose between the D10 and the 300D, which have (I believe) the same focusing system (unless of course, he chooses to buy a used camera).
spend your money in glass and "film..".
on
Digital 35mm SLRs?
·
· Score: 4, Informative
Let me first state my "credentials". I am a "prosumer" photographer who has been taking photos in 35mm longer more than I can remember. I have a closet full of equipment, including 2 Canon film SLRs, one D60 and 8 EF lenses.
Since Feb. of this year I have taken 8k photos with my D60, compared to around 400 film photos. here are my observations:
With digital you experiment a lot. You try, and try and try. You will explore new types of photography than you might have never imaged. E.g, many years ago I bought a set of extension tubes, but never used them; with the D60 I have a played a lot with them. I have also tried stitching (large photo). Even
geeks.
The lack of cost in taking a picture is a big
factor in the ability to experiment.
On the other
hand, the lack of price makes you sloppy.
What Cartier-Bresson called "shotgun photography"
and should be relabelled "machine gun photography", in which the photographer hopes
that one, out of a trillion will make it. The decisive
moment is no longer waited for. Instead, you
do "sampling photography".
Understanding this tendency will make you think a
bit more about each one of the photos you take.
You can do digital photography with a film SLR. Get your pictures scanned instead of printed (by a good lab). I do it all the time and I really like the results. There is nicer contrast, and grain than in the digital ones (of course, you can always increase contrast with the gimp, but that is not the point).
There are two areas in which I prefer film. B&W and Night photography. For those technically inclined: I believe that the reciprocity failure characteristic of film makes it perfectly suited for night photography because you don't overburn the highlights while you are starting to record shadows. The same does not apply to digital. I will prefer one roll of 35 mm film to a 256MB flash card. With respect to B&W, I think it is more of a problem of bit depth of displays than the actual technology. Again, I rather see a photo printed from film than from a file. But I have seen very good B&W printed from file (using a chemical process).
NOw, with respect to your question.
Unless you are a serious photographer, you will "waste" your money in a D60 instead of a 300D. The reasons are many:
You might not understand some of the features you're missing: mirror lockup, second courtain flash synchronization, for example, and will never use them
If you don't have a closet full of Canon EOS equipment, you are not gaining much compared to a fixed lens SLR, but you're paying more.
The D60 weighs more than the 300D.
The 300D only has one metering mode (I believe)
Many of the Auto focus functions are not custimizable (AF Assist strobe, which I hate in the D60 is always on in the 300D)
But on the other hand, there is one reason why I would buy the 300D:
The new EOS mount, allowing for the "shorter" cheaper lenses, such as the 18-55mm (which is mislabelled because it should be more like 28-88).
The multiplier of the D60 makes it hard to take wideangle photos. I miss it a lot! But on the other hand I have superb closeups. So it is a tradeoff.
Photographers will always tell you that the camera does not make the photographer. Also, that you should invest your money not in the camera, but
in the glass. That is why the EOS SLRs do such a good job. Mount a 85 1.8 on either one of these babies and see for yourself!
There is something funny about this. In the past, owning a Leica was a dream for many, because of its price. Now even a Leica looks cheap compared to some digital models. These days I am not affraid any mo
I use them for 2 disks. The enclosure works well. It reduces dramatically the whining of the hard disk. The drive runs a bit hot, but within specs. The one in this machine has been on for several months now, and it is still going.
Now I only buy barracudas.
Silencing your PC is like getting into HiFi audio. The curve money spent vs. noise reduction becomes asynthotic.
This is exactly the reason why I refuse to pay for cable: I am not willing to pay for content that has commercials. You could do the same, and tell the cable operators (and tv operators) you are not willing to accept their advertisement when you pay for your tv programming.
In my city, I can only get one free tv channel. Nothing worth, anyway. So I don't even have a tv. And after a while, I don't miss it a bit.
The levy is the main reason that I bring CDs as souvenirs from other countries.
BTW, the numbers in the article are incomplete. We pay 21 cents per data CD-Rs, 77 cents per minidisk/CD-R audio and 29 cents per tape http://pcbuyersguide.com/hardware/storage/2003_Lev y_FAQ.html#1.
Yesterday, in one of the classes I am teaching, we looked at some of the first mouse diagrams and photos (see for example the patent pictures.
An interesting fact in the first mouse is that the "tail" pointed towards the hand, and later moved to the opposite side.
I remember playing a DOS based "Star Wars" game (Luke in his fighter going through the channel of the Death Star trying to drop the bomb). Playing that game gave me accuracy and speed in my use of the mouse.
Many years later, one day that I needed to take notes as I used the mouse, I switched the mouse from my right hand to the left (I am right handed). It has stayed there since. I find it
more useful in that hand. Playing starcraft that way was quite interesting: panning with the right hand, selection with the mouse on the left one. Being able to use the mouse in both hands is a good skill (specially if you ever get tendonitis). You'll be surprised to see the reaction of people to the fact that there is no mouse in the right side of my keyboard. They don't even look, just reach, and then find nothing!
The only real issue I have with my Roomba is that I can't sit in the living room while Roomba is vacuuming it and expect to have an Internet wireless connection. Roomba creates enough interference to bring my connection down. On the other side, it is the first time in my life that the spaces under the bed and couch are being vacuumed on a regular basis. Yes, the recharging is a pain in the butt, and I guess a good reason to buy another one (as I usually remember to vacuum the day that I need the house too look clean, and roomba gives up too quickly:(
I have a PhD in computer science. Like many, I went down the path not because I wanted the money or the fame. It was just there, in front of me, and I decided I wanted to try to see "what to be a researcher" was like. I never thought of the future jobs, the years of poor TA salaries, or the like. But man, did I enjoy it! The 7 years it took me were sometimes difficult (plenty of stress to finish the darn thesis) but at the same time were very good: plenty of travel to conferences, being able to do _whatever_ I wanted with my time, being able to learn and pursue anything that look interesting in front of me (to a certain extend), and the great feeling when you see your name in your first research articles, and later in citations.
I recommend you read a book called: A Ph.D. Is Not Enough: A Guide to Survival in Science by Peter J. Feibelman. It is a little bit biased towards the academic jobs, but it has a chapter on the "real world" jobs too. I wished I had read it many years before.
About me? I finished school and got a job at the Big Blue. I proved to myself I was able to create software in the Major Leagues, but then I realized I was being under employeed (my research skills were underutilized). In Canada there are few places better than them to go to, so my only alternative was academia. I am now tenure track at UVic.
The perfect job exists for few. In my case, I am happy and I am making the best out of it. My PhD has allowed me to pursue things in my life that might have been impossible otherwise (how many people would "kill" in Canada for a well paid job in Victoria, for example?). I would do it again, for sure, if I had to go back in time.
On the other hand, I have seen many crack under the pressure. You can be made to believe that you are an ass, with no potential to have a "contribution" to science. Many people struggle to find a thesis topic for years and many fail altogether. I must be very hard to feel the failure of not completing. Many others don't know what to do with the PhD when they finish and end with jobs that they could have gotten with a Ms.
Make sure you heart wants the PhD. Otherwise you might just waste some years until you decide it wasn't for you.
I run a small research team. Most of our machines are Linux, and I recently adquired 2 apple laptops. WIth X11 running under OS X, I can safely run most of the Linux apps without too much trouble (thank you Fink project!)
Even though I enjoy the laptops, I am always worried that Apple is a nano-soft (mili-microsoft). They want very tight control, and they want money for almost everything.
There are several things that trouble me:
* They like to make things incompatible with themselves, forcing you to replace your hardware unless you are willing to live "in the past" (for instance, my SO could not believe she could not buy a new Apple screen for her G3 without first buying a cable adapter; aNother one, power adapters for the G3 powerbooks are the same output as the ones for the G4 and ibooks, but, surprise, the plugs are different).
* OS Control. Look at the previous story on the old G3 and OS X. Apple will not build a good OS for the old machines and instead decides to settle and "refund" the buyers of the OS. You have locked yourself into a single manufacturer/software provider, with (except for Linux, which is not totally supported in the new models) has no competition.
* Lack of software. Yes, you have Office, Adobe and this and that, but check the computer store and compare how many products just don't come for OS X (neither for Linux). Explorer is no longer coming to Apple, for instance, so what happens if Safari is started to be sold to the users by Apple?
* Lack of hardware drivers. I have a SCSI PCMCIA adapter. Useless under OS X. I have been thinking about the external USB sound "card" from Creative Labs, but its support is incomplete. Until recently my Cli'e was not supported.
Yes, their laptops are beautiful (I use one and I love it), but I fear apple.
P.S. I use an apple, but I am not an "apple user".
Don't kid yourself. I own a 17" Powerbook and it is _impossible_ to use it during a flight, unless you are either, in first or business class, or in a bulk head (another option is that you are the size of Mini-Me).
Furthermore, if you are going to be walking around with a laptop, the 3.5kg of the PW 17 is already a lot!
If you want to travel light, get a X31 from IBM or something similar, send the ultrabase with your luggage and any other device you need.
Wine does require a license of windows to run (it requires DLLs from Windows). So in order to run Wine you need to have Windows installed first! That means that you have a license of windows too!
"Although Parliament enacted special legislation for the protection of plant breeders, it did not address other higher life forms. Moreover, the passage of the Plant Breeders' Rights Act demonstrates that mechanisms other than the Patent Act may be used to encourage inventors to undertake innovative activity in the field of biotechnology.[...] If a special legislative scheme was needed to protect plant varieties, a subset of higher life forms, a similar scheme may also be necessary to deal with the patenting of higher life forms in general. It is beyond the competence of this Court to address in a comprehensive fashion the issues associated with the patentability of higher life forms."
In other words, patents related to plants have their own set of laws. They were not meant to include animals and the Supreme Cort does not want to take the responsibility of something that Parliament should do.
Slashdot Mirror
That is the spirit of the GPL! You are allowed to copy and use GPL code if your code is also GPL!
I also installed Rendezvous on a linux box to stream mp3s.
One problem I found, however, is that that Linux box could not be a DNS server too. The Rendezvous server uses the same ports that bind uses.
You gotta show us some photographs! I am sure everybody is dying to see them!
Are you sure you are talking about a Dual USB ibook, white, 12" screen?
Look at the following picture (and the rest of the instructions). The disk does not sit under the keyboard, and requires the removal of the back of the laptop and many other screws.
One thing that annoys me is that there is no way the user can service (replace or remove) the hard disks.
My ibook has suffered 2 motherboard failures, and the machine would not even boot in firewire mode. I wished I could just remove the disk, and send the laptop for service (the service people don't need to see my files!)
The laptops I owned previously (IBM and dell) both allowed me to remove the disk.
> It looks like a cheap peice of crap camera too - not at all likely to get stolen.
I bought my T4 Super for a trip to Rio. I was scared by a Brazilian friend that told me that if took my SLR, it would not make it back.
When I got the camera, I "camouflage" it by wrapping masking tape all around it (then cutting it to be able to open it). With time the masking tape has "patina" and lots of dirt/dark marks in the edges. It looks so pitiful that I think a thief will probably say "no thanks" even if I offered it to him/her
Not to be picky but you could have taken that photo with a large fixed lens (no necessarily a zoom).
But I fully agree with you: zooms exists because they are more convenient. I just wish some cheap digital cameras would recognize that some of us want quality photos, even at lower resolutions.
Besides, when one uses a fixed lens, one looks at the world in a different way, trying to see what "fits" in the frame, rather than trying to fit your frame to the scene: they are just different types of photography (I use zooms and fixed lenses on a regular basis).
"NASA's Spirit Rover is providing a lesson to aspiring digital photographers: Spend your money on the lens, not the pixels."
Every good photographer will tell you the same. It still amazes me that people are willing to drop Can$.5k for a digital camera, but think you are nuts for spending the same money in a lens.
Too bad the digital cameras all come with Zooms. At the same price, a zoom lens will tend to be worse than a fixed lens. An old camera, the yashica t4 super won a great reputation for its superb fixed lens (35 mm Carl Zeiss).
I have one, and I love it. It takes the best pics I have ever seen in a P&S.
During the early 90's his research was put down by other Hypermedia researchers. Their view: "we've been there, done that; your implementation is too simple, too restrictive; our research is towards two directional linking..., other systems before you are better...". His first paper was rejected by the Hypertext Conference in 1991, and he settled for a demo table in the same venue.
The key to his success is that he made it simple and free (as in beer)! Others, like Nelson's Xanadu, were too ambitious. Others, like Hypercards, Hypernotes, Hyperdisco, etc were never free.
The BBC article highlights that in one of the side boxes: "Offered free on the Net".
>In Canada, it is legal to borrow content (a CD,
>movie, etc) from a friend (or stranger), and copy it for your own personal use.
The Decision by the board is interesting. It legitimizes private copying as long as 2 conditions are met:
* the copy must be made for private use (as defined in section 80 of the Copyright Act)
* it must be made into "an audio recording medium" (as defined in section 79... of the Copyright Act).
I have read the Board Decision, and it is clear that it allows people private copying onto CD-R and CD-RWs and into Mp3 players. But it does not say anything about any other kind of medium.
It also seems to pertain only to audio.
In other words, there seem to be loopholes (maybe on purpose) that explicitely state that this ruling applies only to Music and to copies made into media that pays a levy.
For example, see the following paragraph (page 21 of the ruling):
However, an audio recording medium to
which no tariff applies because the Board has
decided that such a medium is not of a kind
ordinarily used by individuals for recording
music is, in the Board' s opinion, removed
from the ambit of the exemption. For
instance, in Private Copying I, the Board
decided that audiocassettes of less than 40
minutes do not attract a levy. Considering the
wording of section 80, this means that
copying music onto such cassettes infringes
copyright. It is, however, for the courts of
civil jurisdiction to ultimately determine
whether or not there is an infringement of
copyright for private copies made onto a
specific medium, unless the legislator
intervenes.
It pertains to tapes of less than 40 minutes, that do not pay levy.
If I understand this sentence correctly (IANAL), this means I can be sued for infridgement if I use a hard disk, for example!
For storing wires, I find that a closet is the best. Wrap the cables around the closet pole (or whatever it is called). When you don't need them, just push them to the end, so they take little space. When you need the cable, spread them on the pole and you can choose your cable with little hassle. I think a "tie" rack will be excellent for this too.
If you only have a wall, place some _big_ nails on it, and wrap the cables around it. It is way easier to find the cable you are looking for this way.
It is great that they think so! Maybe they can have another supercampaing and get _all_ the households to delete all their digital music (except, of course, that they bought from iTunes and the likes).
This could be a sword of two edges:
* The RIAA is happy and thinks that they have been succesfull and stop being annoying
* The RIAA is happy and thinks that they have been so successfull that keep doing it and doing until 100% of the market has erased all their files.
So, next time somebody calls you at home from a survey and asks you: Do you use digital music, respond, noooo, I am soo afraid of the legal consequences that I buy perfectly legal CDs and don't even lend them to my friends.
I consider the original Alien trailer one of the best ever made. It did not have voice-overs (which is part of its charm), not a single word said, it gave very few glimpses of the story and it just ended with the text In space, nobody can hear you. It kept you on the edge of your seat.
.
Trailers today suck! They tell you the story, they are narrated because the directors can't find a way to tease you otherwise.
The new version of the alien trailer is an example of this "new" era of trailers. Watch both
and compare them. Make your own judgement.
You can find them all here
I agree with you. The focusing of the 300 is superior to the D60. I guess after a while, you just get used to it (no alternative). I also miss the eye control (it works very well with me on my ElanIIe).
Finally, the original poster will have to choose between the D10 and the 300D, which have (I believe) the same focusing system (unless of course, he chooses to buy a used camera).
Since Feb. of this year I have taken 8k photos with my D60, compared to around 400 film photos. here are my observations:
NOw, with respect to your question.
Unless you are a serious photographer, you will "waste" your money in a D60 instead of a 300D. The reasons are many:
But on the other hand, there is one reason why I would buy the 300D:
Photographers will always tell you that the camera does not make the photographer. Also, that you should invest your money not in the camera, but in the glass. That is why the EOS SLRs do such a good job. Mount a 85 1.8 on either one of these babies and see for yourself!
There is something funny about this. In the past, owning a Leica was a dream for many, because of its price. Now even a Leica looks cheap compared to some digital models. These days I am not affraid any mo
I use them for 2 disks. The enclosure works well. It reduces dramatically the whining of the hard disk. The drive runs a bit hot, but within specs. The one in this machine has been on for several months now, and it is still going.
Now I only buy barracudas.
Silencing your PC is like getting into HiFi audio. The curve money spent vs. noise reduction becomes asynthotic.
This is exactly the reason why I refuse to pay for cable: I am not willing to pay for content that has commercials. You could do the same, and tell the cable operators (and tv operators) you are not willing to accept their advertisement when you pay for your tv programming.
In my city, I can only get one free tv channel. Nothing worth, anyway. So I don't even have a tv. And after a while, I don't miss it a bit.
The levy is the main reason that I bring CDs as souvenirs from other countries.
v y_FAQ.html#1.
BTW, the numbers in the article are incomplete. We pay 21 cents per data CD-Rs, 77 cents per minidisk/CD-R audio and 29 cents per tape http://pcbuyersguide.com/hardware/storage/2003_Le
Yesterday, in one of the classes I am teaching, we looked at some of the first mouse diagrams and photos (see for example the patent pictures.
An interesting fact in the first mouse is that the "tail" pointed towards the hand, and later moved to the opposite side.
I remember playing a DOS based "Star Wars" game (Luke in his fighter going through the channel of the Death Star trying to drop the bomb). Playing that game gave me accuracy and speed in my use of the mouse.
Many years later, one day that I needed to take notes as I used the mouse, I switched the mouse from my right hand to the left (I am right handed). It has stayed there since. I find it more useful in that hand. Playing starcraft that way was quite interesting: panning with the right hand, selection with the mouse on the left one. Being able to use the mouse in both hands is a good skill (specially if you ever get tendonitis). You'll be surprised to see the reaction of people to the fact that there is no mouse in the right side of my keyboard. They don't even look, just reach, and then find nothing!
The only real issue I have with my Roomba is that I can't sit in the living room while Roomba is vacuuming it and expect to have an Internet wireless connection. Roomba creates enough interference to bring my connection down. On the other side, it is the first time in my life that the spaces under the bed and couch are being vacuumed on a regular basis. Yes, the recharging is a pain in the butt, and I guess a good reason to buy another one (as I usually remember to vacuum the day that I need the house too look clean, and roomba gives up too quickly :(
I have a PhD in computer science. Like many, I went down the path not because I wanted the money or the fame. It was just there, in front of me, and I decided I wanted to try to see "what to be a researcher" was like. I never thought of the future jobs, the years of poor TA salaries, or the like. But man, did I enjoy it! The 7 years it took me were sometimes difficult (plenty of stress to finish the darn thesis) but at the same time were very good: plenty of travel to conferences, being able to do _whatever_ I wanted with my time, being able to learn and pursue anything that look interesting in front of me (to a certain extend), and the great feeling when you see your name in your first research articles, and later in citations.
I recommend you read a book called: A Ph.D. Is Not Enough: A Guide to Survival in Science
by Peter J. Feibelman. It is a little bit biased towards the academic jobs, but it has a chapter on the "real world" jobs too. I wished I had read it many years before.
About me? I finished school and got a job at the Big Blue. I proved to myself I was able to create software in the Major Leagues, but then I realized I was being under employeed (my research skills were underutilized). In Canada there are few places better than them to go to, so my only alternative was academia. I am now tenure track at UVic.
The perfect job exists for few. In my case, I am happy and I am making the best out of it. My PhD has allowed me to pursue things in my life that might have been impossible otherwise (how many people would "kill" in Canada for a well paid job in Victoria, for example?). I would do it again, for sure, if I had to go back in time.
On the other hand, I have seen many crack under the pressure. You can be made to believe that you are an ass, with no potential to have a "contribution" to science. Many people struggle to find a thesis topic for years and many fail altogether. I must be very hard to feel the failure of not completing. Many others don't know what to do with the PhD when they finish and end with jobs that they could have gotten with a Ms.
Make sure you heart wants the PhD. Otherwise you might just waste some years until you decide it wasn't for you.
I run a small research team. Most of our machines are Linux, and I recently adquired 2 apple laptops.
WIth X11 running under OS X, I can safely run most of the Linux apps without too much trouble (thank you Fink project!)
Even though I enjoy the laptops, I am always worried that Apple is a nano-soft (mili-microsoft). They want very tight control, and they want money for almost everything.
There are several things that trouble me:
* They like to make things incompatible with themselves, forcing you to replace your hardware unless you are willing to live "in the past" (for instance, my SO could not believe she could not buy a new Apple screen for her G3 without first buying a cable adapter; aNother one, power adapters for the G3 powerbooks are the same output as the ones for the G4 and ibooks, but, surprise, the plugs are different).
* OS Control. Look at the previous story on the old G3 and OS X. Apple will not build a good OS for the old machines and instead decides to settle and "refund" the buyers of the OS. You have locked yourself into a single manufacturer/software provider, with (except for Linux, which is not totally supported in the new models) has no competition.
* Lack of software. Yes, you have Office, Adobe and this and that, but check the computer store and compare how many products just don't come for OS X (neither for Linux). Explorer is no longer coming to Apple, for instance, so what happens if Safari is started to be sold to the users by Apple?
* Lack of hardware drivers. I have a SCSI PCMCIA adapter. Useless under OS X. I have been thinking about the external USB sound "card" from Creative Labs, but its support is incomplete. Until recently my Cli'e was not supported.
Yes, their laptops are beautiful (I use one and I love it), but I fear apple.
P.S. I use an apple, but I am not an "apple user".
Don't kid yourself. I own a 17" Powerbook and it is _impossible_ to use it during a flight, unless you are either, in first or business class, or in a bulk head (another option is that you are the size of Mini-Me).
Furthermore, if you are going to be walking around with a laptop, the 3.5kg of the PW 17 is already a lot!
If you want to travel light, get a X31 from IBM or something similar, send the ultrabase with your luggage and any other device you need.
Wine does require a license of windows to run (it requires DLLs from Windows). So in order to run Wine you need to have Windows installed first! That means that you have a license of windows too!
Please correct me if I am wrong.
From the ruling:
:)
"Although Parliament enacted special legislation for the protection of plant breeders, it did not address other higher life forms. Moreover, the passage of the Plant Breeders' Rights Act demonstrates that mechanisms other than the Patent Act may be used to encourage inventors to undertake innovative activity in the field of biotechnology.[...] If a special legislative scheme was needed to protect plant varieties, a subset of higher life forms, a similar scheme may also be necessary to deal with the patenting of higher life forms in general. It is beyond the competence of this Court to address in a comprehensive fashion the issues associated with the patentability of higher life forms."
In other words, patents related to plants have their own set of laws. They were not meant to include animals and the Supreme Cort does not want to take the responsibility of something that Parliament should do.
At least, that is my interpretation