Here in the UK there's no competition for the iPhone (not that I want one anyway) but the rates and plans are actually pretty darn good.
I'm more of a Nokia person myself, and my N95 on the 3UK network provides 1,100 minutes inclusive or 1,100 text messages or any mixture of the two providing the total of both is not more than 1,100 (extremely unlikely in my case!); A further 300 minutes for 3-to-3 calls (which is fine as all my relatives and most friends use 3); unlimited internet access (proper internet, not just WWW); 90 video minutes, they support Skype properly and all sorts of other stuff. Total outlay per month is $80 USD (converted).
People complain about ripoff Britain but some things we actually seem to get a reasonable deal on.
For fifty years, Western nations have maintained the sheeple in state of perpetual fear. Fear of nuclear war, fear of the Communist menace, fear of the Iron Curtain and fear of the Evil Empire. Within the Communist countries, the same just in reverse. But then in the fall of 1989, it was all finished; The fall of the Berlin Wall created a vacuum of fear, and something had to fill it.
We now have radical fundamentalism and post-9/11 terrorism to make us afraid instead. Before terrorism took over as the lead cause and reason for the reduction of civil rights, we feared the toxic environment. Before that we had the Communist menace. Although the specific cause of our fear may change, we are never without fear itself.
Industrialized nations provide their citizens with unprecedented safety, health and comfort. Average life spans have increased fifty percent in the last century. Yet modern people live in abject fear. Afraid of strangers, crime, terrorism, disease, and the environment. We're convinced the environment of the entire planet is being destroyed around us.
In the old days, citizens of the West believed their nation-states were dominated by the military-industrial complex. Eisenhower warned the Americans against it in the 1960's, and after two world wars Europeans knew very well what it meant in their own countries. But it was no longer the primary driver of society. For the last 20 years we have in fact been under the control of the politico-legal-media complex, dedicated to promoting fear in the population under the guise of promoting safety. Politicians need to control the population. Lawyers need danger to litigate and make money. The media needs scare stories to capture an audience. They are so compelling they go about their business even if the scare is totally groundless.
The world has changed in the last 50 years. Global warming is just one of our many New Fears to enable Governments to impose so-called 'green' taxes that do nothing for the environment yet lighten your wallet anyway, and permit heavy, if subtle control over your life. Ask any child what Global Warming is, I guarantee they will be able to tell you what it is, or what the government wants them to think it is. Scary isn't it?
Don't take my word for it either. There are hundreds of texts that will help show you enlightenment where global warming is concerned, if you throw away a life-time of prejudices and just go and find out for yourself. Our climate is cyclic, always has been and always will be. Our part in this round of cycling is so insignificant as to be almost entirely irrelevant.
Further reading: Terrestrial Ecosystems Aber, John D. Jerry M. Melillo. Harcourt Academic Press 2001. Creating Fear, News and the Construction of Crisis Aldine de Gruyter 2002. Global Warming and the Greenland Ice Sheet Climatic Change 63 (2004): 201-21. Global Warming: The Science of Climate Change New York/Oxford University Press, 2000. The Little Ice Age: How Climate Made History 1300-1850 New York/Basic Books 2000. Radical Ecopsychology: Psychology in the Service of Life State University New York Press 2002 After the Ice Age: The Return of Life to Glaciated North America Pielou, E.C. University of Chicago Press 1991. Reference Manual on Scientific Evidence Federal Judicial Center 1994. Hot Talk, Cold Science: Global Warming's Unfinished Debate Singer, S. Fred. Oakland Independent Institute 1998.
I understood considerably less than you it seems, and I consider myself a reasonably proficient linux junkie.
"As some of the latency junkies on lkml already know, commit 8e3e076 in v2.6.26-rc2 removed the preemptable BKL feature and made the Big Kernel Lock a spinlock and thus turned it into non-preemptable code again.
*blink*
I actually meant a dedicated line when I said a commercial line, rather than some arbitrary cost uprated account on the same piece of cable from the same provider. I fully concur there is zero benefit in doing that, as you're still clogging the same tube, regardless of what you pay.
I watch TV as well over BBC iPlayer, I still don't come close to my cap. I wasn't criticizing how you use your pipe, I was merely commenting on how much 250gb actually is. Consider yourself very lucky that Comcast is setting the bar so high. On my 8mbit/0.5mbit dsl line as I said previous, the limit is 'just' 20gb, which despite terming myself a 'heavy' user, is still plenty sufficient. And that includes running some servers locally (my upstream doesn't count, just the downstream). So really my total transfer is probably closer to 40-50gb as I think I push more up than down. Even so that's still a fraction of 250.
Here in the UK I am limited to 20gb a month (hard cap), with my provider of choice (Zen). While I can buy additional packs of 10, 20 or 50gb for very reasonable prices, I have never in 7 years with this provider needed to do so. Despite being a heavy p2p user, web surfer, code developer and downloader of various ISOs, updates and so forth, I've never gone beyond 17gb a month.
I think people complaining 250gb is insufficient need a reality check as to what that amount of data actually constitutes. Either that or you're not doing 'residential' stuff on your residential cable service, and should perhaps look into getting a professional connection.
I'd be inclined to say proprietary software has a higher risk of unintentional infection than OSS, because of the reasons already stated in this thread, and that there is a higher percentage of Windows-based coding platforms. Developer PC gets infected with some new strain, and potentially it goes all the way up the chain before being noticed.
It's when you get unto the deliberate infection realms that things start to get murky. I'd argue it easier to deliberately infect via an OSS plugin than it would be to say, poison the next release of McAfee AV. However consider the scenario - if this were via McAfee AV rather than an OSS language pack, would we have ever discovered it?
Working on the 'other side' of this as I do, I can only say that CCTV is really useful. The number of times it has proved an innocent man innocent, or guilty man guilty, I can't even begin to count in my 6 year career with $force.
When I'm not working, as a member of the public I really do detest CCTV as well. But I do take minor comfort in the fact that all recordings are only kept for 31 days (certainly in my force, your millage may vary) and are then only looked at if something is discovered to have happened in retrospect. "Realtime" recordings tend to only be of specific incidents in a reactive style, all the rest are time elapsed recordings (1 frame a second I believe).
But from a general 'usefulness' point of view, I beg to differ with their findings. I work for a force that shall remain nameless, and while the spontaneous discovery rate is relatively low (I'd agree with the 3% figure here), the evidence it does capture when responding to an incident is extremely useful when a case comes to court - or indeed before court, to see what actually happens prior to us arriving. CCTV was designed to deter and detect; While the public deterrence factor is no longer there it still fulfills its detection role when used properly.
As a member of the public I really object to CCTV, but when sitting on the other side of the fence it's a very valuable tool indeed.
I am a software developer in my spare time, and I try wherever possible to stick to my defined release guidelines, e.g. 2 or 3 pre-alpha releases (usually for other people to read the code and make some suggestions), then a true alpha release that should mostly work for all platforms. That will be out for about a month all the while making improvements for the upcoming beta release. I will generally make 2 beta releases (bar any major bugs/security problems!) and then release version 1.0. The whole process from pre-alpha to v1.0 may take up to 6 months, but certainly not years or decades, in the case of ICQ/Google etc.
Slashdot Mirror
Here in the UK there's no competition for the iPhone (not that I want one anyway) but the rates and plans are actually pretty darn good.
I'm more of a Nokia person myself, and my N95 on the 3UK network provides 1,100 minutes inclusive or 1,100 text messages or any mixture of the two providing the total of both is not more than 1,100 (extremely unlikely in my case!); A further 300 minutes for 3-to-3 calls (which is fine as all my relatives and most friends use 3); unlimited internet access (proper internet, not just WWW); 90 video minutes, they support Skype properly and all sorts of other stuff. Total outlay per month is $80 USD (converted).
People complain about ripoff Britain but some things we actually seem to get a reasonable deal on.
For fifty years, Western nations have maintained the sheeple in state of perpetual fear. Fear of nuclear war, fear of the Communist menace, fear of the Iron Curtain and fear of the Evil Empire. Within the Communist countries, the same just in reverse. But then in the fall of 1989, it was all finished; The fall of the Berlin Wall created a vacuum of fear, and something had to fill it.
We now have radical fundamentalism and post-9/11 terrorism to make us afraid instead. Before terrorism took over as the lead cause and reason for the reduction of civil rights, we feared the toxic environment. Before that we had the Communist menace. Although the specific cause of our fear may change, we are never without fear itself.
Industrialized nations provide their citizens with unprecedented safety, health and comfort. Average life spans have increased fifty percent in the last century. Yet modern people live in abject fear. Afraid of strangers, crime, terrorism, disease, and the environment. We're convinced the environment of the entire planet is being destroyed around us.
In the old days, citizens of the West believed their nation-states were dominated by the military-industrial complex. Eisenhower warned the Americans against it in the 1960's, and after two world wars Europeans knew very well what it meant in their own countries. But it was no longer the primary driver of society. For the last 20 years we have in fact been under the control of the politico-legal-media complex, dedicated to promoting fear in the population under the guise of promoting safety. Politicians need to control the population. Lawyers need danger to litigate and make money. The media needs scare stories to capture an audience. They are so compelling they go about their business even if the scare is totally groundless.
The world has changed in the last 50 years. Global warming is just one of our many New Fears to enable Governments to impose so-called 'green' taxes that do nothing for the environment yet lighten your wallet anyway, and permit heavy, if subtle control over your life. Ask any child what Global Warming is, I guarantee they will be able to tell you what it is, or what the government wants them to think it is. Scary isn't it?
Don't take my word for it either. There are hundreds of texts that will help show you enlightenment where global warming is concerned, if you throw away a life-time of prejudices and just go and find out for yourself. Our climate is cyclic, always has been and always will be. Our part in this round of cycling is so insignificant as to be almost entirely irrelevant.
Further reading:
Terrestrial Ecosystems Aber, John D. Jerry M. Melillo. Harcourt Academic Press 2001.
Creating Fear, News and the Construction of Crisis Aldine de Gruyter 2002.
Global Warming and the Greenland Ice Sheet Climatic Change 63 (2004): 201-21.
Global Warming: The Science of Climate Change New York/Oxford University Press, 2000.
The Little Ice Age: How Climate Made History 1300-1850 New York/Basic Books 2000.
Radical Ecopsychology: Psychology in the Service of Life State University New York Press 2002
After the Ice Age: The Return of Life to Glaciated North America Pielou, E.C. University of Chicago Press 1991.
Reference Manual on Scientific Evidence Federal Judicial Center 1994.
Hot Talk, Cold Science: Global Warming's Unfinished Debate Singer, S. Fred. Oakland Independent Institute 1998.
I understood considerably less than you it seems, and I consider myself a reasonably proficient linux junkie. "As some of the latency junkies on lkml already know, commit 8e3e076 in v2.6.26-rc2 removed the preemptable BKL feature and made the Big Kernel Lock a spinlock and thus turned it into non-preemptable code again. *blink*
I actually meant a dedicated line when I said a commercial line, rather than some arbitrary cost uprated account on the same piece of cable from the same provider. I fully concur there is zero benefit in doing that, as you're still clogging the same tube, regardless of what you pay.
I watch TV as well over BBC iPlayer, I still don't come close to my cap. I wasn't criticizing how you use your pipe, I was merely commenting on how much 250gb actually is. Consider yourself very lucky that Comcast is setting the bar so high. On my 8mbit/0.5mbit dsl line as I said previous, the limit is 'just' 20gb, which despite terming myself a 'heavy' user, is still plenty sufficient. And that includes running some servers locally (my upstream doesn't count, just the downstream). So really my total transfer is probably closer to 40-50gb as I think I push more up than down. Even so that's still a fraction of 250.
Perhaps if they code something off their own back then rather than leech off the work of others, there would be no problem. Honestly, the nerve!
Here in the UK I am limited to 20gb a month (hard cap), with my provider of choice (Zen). While I can buy additional packs of 10, 20 or 50gb for very reasonable prices, I have never in 7 years with this provider needed to do so. Despite being a heavy p2p user, web surfer, code developer and downloader of various ISOs, updates and so forth, I've never gone beyond 17gb a month.
I think people complaining 250gb is insufficient need a reality check as to what that amount of data actually constitutes. Either that or you're not doing 'residential' stuff on your residential cable service, and should perhaps look into getting a professional connection.
I'd be inclined to say proprietary software has a higher risk of unintentional infection than OSS, because of the reasons already stated in this thread, and that there is a higher percentage of Windows-based coding platforms. Developer PC gets infected with some new strain, and potentially it goes all the way up the chain before being noticed.
It's when you get unto the deliberate infection realms that things start to get murky. I'd argue it easier to deliberately infect via an OSS plugin than it would be to say, poison the next release of McAfee AV. However consider the scenario - if this were via McAfee AV rather than an OSS language pack, would we have ever discovered it?
Working on the 'other side' of this as I do, I can only say that CCTV is really useful. The number of times it has proved an innocent man innocent, or guilty man guilty, I can't even begin to count in my 6 year career with $force.
When I'm not working, as a member of the public I really do detest CCTV as well. But I do take minor comfort in the fact that all recordings are only kept for 31 days (certainly in my force, your millage may vary) and are then only looked at if something is discovered to have happened in retrospect. "Realtime" recordings tend to only be of specific incidents in a reactive style, all the rest are time elapsed recordings (1 frame a second I believe).
But from a general 'usefulness' point of view, I beg to differ with their findings. I work for a force that shall remain nameless, and while the spontaneous discovery rate is relatively low (I'd agree with the 3% figure here), the evidence it does capture when responding to an incident is extremely useful when a case comes to court - or indeed before court, to see what actually happens prior to us arriving. CCTV was designed to deter and detect; While the public deterrence factor is no longer there it still fulfills its detection role when used properly.
As a member of the public I really object to CCTV, but when sitting on the other side of the fence it's a very valuable tool indeed.
I am a software developer in my spare time, and I try wherever possible to stick to my defined release guidelines, e.g. 2 or 3 pre-alpha releases (usually for other people to read the code and make some suggestions), then a true alpha release that should mostly work for all platforms. That will be out for about a month all the while making improvements for the upcoming beta release. I will generally make 2 beta releases (bar any major bugs/security problems!) and then release version 1.0. The whole process from pre-alpha to v1.0 may take up to 6 months, but certainly not years or decades, in the case of ICQ/Google etc.