I sailed around the world ten years ago with two other people on this boat http://www.yachtfiona.com/ (I've been re-posting my journal entries on http://bobanero.blogspot.com./ The Captain/boat owner was a retired engineer, and intimately familiar with all the equipment on the boat. We were constantly dealing with equipment failures of various types, and it seems like every other day he had his soldering iron out fixing something. Offhand, I would say that the most critical electronic equipment was GPS, SSB radio, VHF radio, Iridium Phone, Autopilot, Radar, and Laptop. The Iridium phone was great, we always had a signal with it, even in the most remote parts of the Southern Ocean. We lost the Radar during the time when we needed it most (sailing through icebergs). For all the equipment that you have, be prepared with a plan for when it fails. You definitely need redundant GPS. A chart plotter might be handy when you're coming into a strange port, as long as you have all the correct charts loaded. Of course there is no substitute for paper charts and local knowledge. The SSB radio was valuable for communicating with various ham nets that operate in various parts of the world, where we were able to get valuable local knowledge. I recommend joining the Seven Seas Cruising Association. Their newsletters are packed with incredible information from cruisers all over the world.
Erm, that press release for the photo contest is from 2003, and there's no indication that they've carried it forward to 2008/2009. If there's no active photo contest, that destroys the irony (the main point) of the story.
Installation issues are irrelevant when the vast majority of Windows users own a PC which came with Windows pre-installed. That simple fact, that it is practically impossible to buy a PC that does not have Windows pre-installed, is the main reason that Linux has such trouble gaining traction on the desktop. Most computer users are not industrious enough to wipe a machine and reinstall a different OS on it. All they want to do is go to the store, put down their credit card, bring home a system, plug it in, and use it. Sure they could get Ubuntu pre-installed on a Dell machine, but they even have to make an extra effort to do that, and most people take the path of least resistance.
The average computer knowledge has risen, but not to the point that an average user will make a special effort to replace an operating system on a new computer. Just about all machines that you buy at a retail outlet come with Vista installed. Joe Bloggs who buys a new desktop or laptop at BestBuy is just going to use whatever OS is on the machine and live with it. My sister recently did this. She bought a VAIO that run Vista, and does not like it, but the effort required for her to install anything different on it is more trouble than learning to live with Vista. Until major retail outlets (Dell is a good start) begin offering systems with Linux pre-installed as a prominent option, Vista will continue to dominate PCs. Mac may be a different story. Vista is presenting a golden opportunity to Apple to increase market share.
No. The only way to fight the race to the bottom in entertainment is for us to stop watching that crap. Attaching huge fines to accidental utterances of "indecent" words will do nothing to help anything, except the companies that sell time-delay equipment.
Commercial over-the-air radio deserves to disappear, but there are still quite a few non-commercial stations on the left of the dial which haven't sold out to NPR, still serve the community, and feature diverse playlists which feature many new independent and local artists that you will never hear on commercial radio. These non-commercial stations are depending on net broadcasting to reach a wider audience, since their transmitters are generally low-powered.
I think the point is that if some corporation is capitalizing on free software and making a profit, it only makes sense for some of that profit to get back to the developers. Even if OSS developers are purely motivated by the itch to develop software, they will be more able to focus on this task if they are not concurrently also focusing on earning money to pay the rent and put food on the table.
A lot of good things happened in America last Monday, but you didn't hear about them because 33 people were killed on a university campus.
The fact is that the good things that you mention that are happening in Iraq are just people doing their job, and a lot of the good things we are doing (rebuilding) wouldn't have been necessary if we hadn't fucked the place up to begin with. It deserves mention, but seriously tragic events like car bombings are more newsworthy simply because they are more newsworthy. It is quite disturbing that a tragedy that stopped the US dead in it's tracks (the VA tech shootings) is an everyday occurrence in Iraq. One can not possibly fathom what it must be like as a resident of Iraq (one of the 99% who are not violent insurgents), and trying to carry on your day to day life, working and raising a family.
Additionally, a lot of jobs these days require commitment from employees that extends beyond the office, in the way of blackberries, VPN access, etc. It would not be consistent to require them to keep up with work email at home but not allow them to keep up with personal email at work. The line between work time and personal time is a lot more blurry than it used to be.
The iPhone's main feature is that it has an "i" in front of the name. That feature alone will induce a large number of people to wait for/ purchase the iPhone without bothering to compare to other devices.
I read the book "Big Trouble" before seeing the movie. I would recommend that, as it goes into a lot of details that couldn't be covered in the movie. The screen adaptation was quite well done, though. There were a number of twists from the book to the movie that made for a more enjoyable screen experience.
This is my robot.
There are many like it, but this one is MINE.
My robot is my best friend. It is my life.
I must master it as I must master my life.
My robot without me is useless. Without my robot, I am useless.
I must fire my robot true.
I must order him to shoot straighter than my enemy who is trying to kill me.
My robot must shoot him before he shoots me. I will...
My robot and myself know that what counts in war is not the rounds we fire,
the noise of our bursts, nor the smoke we make.
We know it is the hits that count. We will hit...
My robot is human, even as I, because it is my life.
Thus, I will learn it as a brother.
I will learn its weaknesses, its strengths, its parts, its accessories,
its circuits, and its software.
I will ever guard it against the ravages of weather and damage.
I will keep my robot clean and ready, even as I am clean and ready.
We will become part of each other. We will...
Before God I swear this creed.
My robot and myself are the defenders of my country.
We are the masters of our enemy.
We are the saviors of my life.
So be it, until there is no enemy, but PEACE.
Slashdot Mirror
I sailed around the world ten years ago with two other people on this boat http://www.yachtfiona.com/ (I've been re-posting my journal entries on http://bobanero.blogspot.com./ The Captain/boat owner was a retired engineer, and intimately familiar with all the equipment on the boat. We were constantly dealing with equipment failures of various types, and it seems like every other day he had his soldering iron out fixing something. Offhand, I would say that the most critical electronic equipment was GPS, SSB radio, VHF radio, Iridium Phone, Autopilot, Radar, and Laptop. The Iridium phone was great, we always had a signal with it, even in the most remote parts of the Southern Ocean. We lost the Radar during the time when we needed it most (sailing through icebergs). For all the equipment that you have, be prepared with a plan for when it fails. You definitely need redundant GPS. A chart plotter might be handy when you're coming into a strange port, as long as you have all the correct charts loaded. Of course there is no substitute for paper charts and local knowledge. The SSB radio was valuable for communicating with various ham nets that operate in various parts of the world, where we were able to get valuable local knowledge. I recommend joining the Seven Seas Cruising Association. Their newsletters are packed with incredible information from cruisers all over the world.
Don't forget Sports.
Something basic, a "Fuck you, World" application.
I think IBM gets the credit for opening up the hardware. MS-DOS was just in the right place at the right time. They would be nowhere without IBM.
http://wusb.fm/ rules!!
Erm, that press release for the photo contest is from 2003, and there's no indication that they've carried it forward to 2008/2009. If there's no active photo contest, that destroys the irony (the main point) of the story.
I've gotten drunk and used drugs plenty of times, and I have never experienced nausea, headaches or a generally crappy existence.
Then you're not doing it right. In order to know your limits, you have to exceed them once in a while.
You can't put too much water in a nuclear reactor.
Installation issues are irrelevant when the vast majority of Windows users own a PC which came with Windows pre-installed. That simple fact, that it is practically impossible to buy a PC that does not have Windows pre-installed, is the main reason that Linux has such trouble gaining traction on the desktop. Most computer users are not industrious enough to wipe a machine and reinstall a different OS on it. All they want to do is go to the store, put down their credit card, bring home a system, plug it in, and use it. Sure they could get Ubuntu pre-installed on a Dell machine, but they even have to make an extra effort to do that, and most people take the path of least resistance.
The average computer knowledge has risen, but not to the point that an average user will make a special effort to replace an operating system on a new computer. Just about all machines that you buy at a retail outlet come with Vista installed. Joe Bloggs who buys a new desktop or laptop at BestBuy is just going to use whatever OS is on the machine and live with it. My sister recently did this. She bought a VAIO that run Vista, and does not like it, but the effort required for her to install anything different on it is more trouble than learning to live with Vista. Until major retail outlets (Dell is a good start) begin offering systems with Linux pre-installed as a prominent option, Vista will continue to dominate PCs. Mac may be a different story. Vista is presenting a golden opportunity to Apple to increase market share.
I too can appreciate that some people are offended by some words. That is precisely why I use them.
He's making a joke. Lighten up, dude.
No. The only way to fight the race to the bottom in entertainment is for us to stop watching that crap. Attaching huge fines to accidental utterances of "indecent" words will do nothing to help anything, except the companies that sell time-delay equipment.
Commercial over-the-air radio deserves to disappear, but there are still quite a few non-commercial stations on the left of the dial which haven't sold out to NPR, still serve the community, and feature diverse playlists which feature many new independent and local artists that you will never hear on commercial radio. These non-commercial stations are depending on net broadcasting to reach a wider audience, since their transmitters are generally low-powered.
They've still got us by the balls, they're just not going to squeeze so hard for right now..
I think the point is that if some corporation is capitalizing on free software and making a profit, it only makes sense for some of that profit to get back to the developers. Even if OSS developers are purely motivated by the itch to develop software, they will be more able to focus on this task if they are not concurrently also focusing on earning money to pay the rent and put food on the table.
A lot of good things happened in America last Monday, but you didn't hear about them because 33 people were killed on a university campus. The fact is that the good things that you mention that are happening in Iraq are just people doing their job, and a lot of the good things we are doing (rebuilding) wouldn't have been necessary if we hadn't fucked the place up to begin with. It deserves mention, but seriously tragic events like car bombings are more newsworthy simply because they are more newsworthy. It is quite disturbing that a tragedy that stopped the US dead in it's tracks (the VA tech shootings) is an everyday occurrence in Iraq. One can not possibly fathom what it must be like as a resident of Iraq (one of the 99% who are not violent insurgents), and trying to carry on your day to day life, working and raising a family.
Additionally, a lot of jobs these days require commitment from employees that extends beyond the office, in the way of blackberries, VPN access, etc. It would not be consistent to require them to keep up with work email at home but not allow them to keep up with personal email at work. The line between work time and personal time is a lot more blurry than it used to be.
The iPhone's main feature is that it has an "i" in front of the name. That feature alone will induce a large number of people to wait for/ purchase the iPhone without bothering to compare to other devices.
A company like Sony can find that much money under their sofa cushions.
What makes you think that once ABC develops the technology, that the other networks won't fall in line and adopt it too?
I read the book "Big Trouble" before seeing the movie. I would recommend that, as it goes into a lot of details that couldn't be covered in the movie. The screen adaptation was quite well done, though. There were a number of twists from the book to the movie that made for a more enjoyable screen experience.
So I guess the Victoria's Secret site is going to be illegal,too?
Hasn't that already happened?
This is my robot.
There are many like it, but this one is MINE.
My robot is my best friend. It is my life.
I must master it as I must master my life.
My robot without me is useless. Without my robot, I am useless.
I must fire my robot true.
I must order him to shoot straighter than my enemy who is trying to kill me.
My robot must shoot him before he shoots me. I will...
My robot and myself know that what counts in war is not the rounds we fire,
the noise of our bursts, nor the smoke we make.
We know it is the hits that count. We will hit...
My robot is human, even as I, because it is my life.
Thus, I will learn it as a brother.
I will learn its weaknesses, its strengths, its parts, its accessories, its circuits, and its software.
I will ever guard it against the ravages of weather and damage.
I will keep my robot clean and ready, even as I am clean and ready.
We will become part of each other. We will...
Before God I swear this creed.
My robot and myself are the defenders of my country.
We are the masters of our enemy.
We are the saviors of my life.
So be it, until there is no enemy, but PEACE.