I've already pretty much boycotted IE myself...use Firefox pretty much exclusively, and IE only gets used for Windows Update.
However, the real issue is not what browser the tech geeks use (a tiny percentage), but what browser Mr. and Mrs. Joe Sixpack use. IE comes with Windows, and Windows comes with their PC. Any sort of boycott that fails to address the vast majority of Windows users is doomed to failure.
The BBC is reporting that wi-fi enabled Pocket PCs running open source software are being used as digital textbooks in classrooms in Kenya, where 'real' books are hard to come by.
So real books are difficult to obtain, but Pocket PCs are plentiful?
Looks like I need to take a trip to Kenya with a couple suitcases full of books...I smell a trading opportunity here.. ^_^
This is excellent news for everyone, although there's a world of difference between pledging to work together and actually submitting a unified proposal to the IEEE.
Have you considered an alternate fuel, such as kerosene? While kerosene provides less specific impulse (I believe it's around 350 seconds versus hydrogen's 450), it's a lot easier to store...tanks for keresone are about 10% of the weight of tanks for a comparable amount of hydrogen.
Also I think I heard somewhere that good results were obtained from a propane/oxygen mix...that's another fuel that wouldn't require the excessive containment structure hydrogen demands.
Whatever happened to single-stage-to-orbit?
on
NASA's Shuttle Plans
·
· Score: 4, Interesting
As long as we're no longer trying to send up cargo along with personnel, now might be a good time to revisit single-stage-to-orbit designs such as the Delta Clipper and the Roton.
I don't recall any debris problems with either of these designs, although the leg design seriously needs to be rethought. If you have four legs, a failure of any leg results in disaster (witness the spectacular failure of the Delta Clipper). Six legs, on the other hand, would be far more stable...you could lose any three (provided they're not all adjacent) and still pull off a successful landing.
The writeup isn't confusing...the article itself is, and purposefully so.
From TFA:
While Freenet attracted wide attention as a potentially disruptive force when he introduced it in 2000, it proved more difficult to use than file-sharing programs like Grokster and Napster, and did not achieve the impact that he envisioned.
Now, however, Mr. Clarke is taking a fresh approach, stating that his goal is to protect political opponents of repressive regimes.
In the second sentence, Mr. Markoff insinuated that the original purpose of Freenet wasn't to protect political opponents of repressive regimes, when in fact Freenet's stated purpose was always, and still is, to combat censorship.
In other words, Mr Markoff is intentionally distorting established history for his own ends, but given his history, that's not too surprising.
Elsewhere in the news:
on
19 million Amps
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· Score: 4, Funny
In operation, the 650-node Slashdot news-for-nerds generator successfully discharged nearly 19 million hits of HTTP requests through the NNSA Nevada Site Office News webpage, or PDF, on a server about the size and shape of a tuna can. The requests caused the server to implode at extreme speeds, with unrivaled symmetry, precision, and reproducibility.
Customer: Now, then, some packages, my good man. Owner: Certainly, sir! What would you like? Customer: How about some nice bitbake? Owner: I'm afraid we're fresh out of bitbake, sir.
Customer: No matter...have you any testoob? Owner: Not...as...such, sir. Customer: Well then, perhaps some SiGL? Owner: Normally, yes, sir. Hard drive broke down. Customer: I see...do you in fact have any packages? Owner: Certainly, sir! This is The Cheese Shop, sir! We have - Customer: No no no...don't tell me, I'm keen to guess...
I believe that Linux will make more significant inroads into the user community via embedded devices than it ever could as a more general-purpose operating system.
As a parallel, take the electric motor. When the electric motor first became commercially available, it was sold in catalogs as a general-purpose unit, along with various belts and pulleys to adapt it for specific tasks. Nowadays, electric motors come in all shapes and sizes, each customized for their specific tasks. Many household appliances contain electric motors that we don't think twice about. When's the last time you performed maintennce on the electric motor in your toothbrush?
I believe computers are moving along the same route, progressing from general-purpose systems to smaller, more ubiquitous installations. I also believe Linux is suited for such a move in a way that the other OSes are not.
What a load of horseshit. Lynn follows his conscience and speaks up about Cisco's security vulnerabilities, and not only is he severely slapped down by this permanent injunction (which I don't consider 'good news' in any sense), but now the FBI has decided to get involved. It'll be chilling to watch them pull his life apart and examine each bit under a microscope over months or years.
Lynn exposed a serious security flaw that could have been used to compromise networks throughout the nation. Cisco should be rewarding him for protecting them against losses they would no doubt have experienced in the future if this flaw went unreported. As for the government, they should be pinning a medal on Lynn, not investigating him.
By the description (I haven't seen it myself) it would probably be classified as pornography, making it illegal to sell to minors (it would no longer be up to a permissive guardian).
Perhaps you should actually see it before you pass judgement...
I think you'll agree that calling this bit-mapped mess 'pornography' is a serious stretch of the term.
The TCP code now needs a general overhaul, streamlining and cleanup to make it easily comprehensible, maintainable and extensible again. In addition there are many little optimizations that can be done during such an operation, propelling FreeBSD back at the top of the best performing TCP/IP stacks again, a position it has held for the longest time in the 90's.
Hope this helps.
Re:What if we're being baited by the evil martians
on
Ice Lake on Mars
·
· Score: 1
Seriously, though, if FreeBSD is no longer king of the mountain, my vote would have to go with NetBSD (it's always been the BSDs, hasn't it?), although the term "best" is rather open-ended, and subject to serious variations of interpretation. Perhaps before we set about answering this question, we ought to decide just what we mean by "best".
Slashdot Mirror
I've already pretty much boycotted IE myself...use Firefox pretty much exclusively, and IE only gets used for Windows Update.
However, the real issue is not what browser the tech geeks use (a tiny percentage), but what browser Mr. and Mrs. Joe Sixpack use. IE comes with Windows, and Windows comes with their PC. Any sort of boycott that fails to address the vast majority of Windows users is doomed to failure.
From TFS: So real books are difficult to obtain, but Pocket PCs are plentiful?
Looks like I need to take a trip to Kenya with a couple suitcases full of books...I smell a trading opportunity here.. ^_^
Actually, 10-gigabit ethernet has been ratified since 2002.
This is excellent news for everyone, although there's a world of difference between pledging to work together and actually submitting a unified proposal to the IEEE.
A NASA employee failed to connect the landing gear hydraulic line for one of the tests shortly after NASA took over the project.
That's an interesting accusation...can you cite any sources?
The launches are done in Florida so the craft can be over water almost immediately after takeoff...that big tank's gotta fall somewhere...
Have you considered an alternate fuel, such as kerosene? While kerosene provides less specific impulse (I believe it's around 350 seconds versus hydrogen's 450), it's a lot easier to store...tanks for keresone are about 10% of the weight of tanks for a comparable amount of hydrogen.
Also I think I heard somewhere that good results were obtained from a propane/oxygen mix...that's another fuel that wouldn't require the excessive containment structure hydrogen demands.
As long as we're no longer trying to send up cargo along with personnel, now might be a good time to revisit single-stage-to-orbit designs such as the Delta Clipper and the Roton.
I don't recall any debris problems with either of these designs, although the leg design seriously needs to be rethought. If you have four legs, a failure of any leg results in disaster (witness the spectacular failure of the Delta Clipper). Six legs, on the other hand, would be far more stable...you could lose any three (provided they're not all adjacent) and still pull off a successful landing.
Don't forget Evil Lincoln. ^_^
The writeup isn't confusing...the article itself is, and purposefully so.
From TFA: In the second sentence, Mr. Markoff insinuated that the original purpose of Freenet wasn't to protect political opponents of repressive regimes, when in fact Freenet's stated purpose was always, and still is, to combat censorship.
In other words, Mr Markoff is intentionally distorting established history for his own ends, but given his history, that's not too surprising.
In operation, the 650-node Slashdot news-for-nerds generator successfully discharged nearly 19 million hits of HTTP requests through the NNSA Nevada Site Office News webpage, or PDF, on a server about the size and shape of a tuna can. The requests caused the server to implode at extreme speeds, with unrivaled symmetry, precision, and reproducibility.
Customer: Now, then, some packages, my good man.
Owner: Certainly, sir! What would you like?
Customer: How about some nice bitbake?
Owner: I'm afraid we're fresh out of bitbake, sir.
Customer: No matter...have you any testoob?
Owner: Not...as...such, sir.
Customer: Well then, perhaps some SiGL?
Owner: Normally, yes, sir. Hard drive broke down.
Customer: I see...do you in fact have any packages?
Owner: Certainly, sir! This is The Cheese Shop, sir! We have -
Customer: No no no...don't tell me, I'm keen to guess...
Interesting, but I don't know how well this is going to work, given FreeBSD's crappy TCP-IP stack. ^_^
I believe that Linux will make more significant inroads into the user community via embedded devices than it ever could as a more general-purpose operating system.
As a parallel, take the electric motor. When the electric motor first became commercially available, it was sold in catalogs as a general-purpose unit, along with various belts and pulleys to adapt it for specific tasks. Nowadays, electric motors come in all shapes and sizes, each customized for their specific tasks. Many household appliances contain electric motors that we don't think twice about. When's the last time you performed maintennce on the electric motor in your toothbrush?
I believe computers are moving along the same route, progressing from general-purpose systems to smaller, more ubiquitous installations. I also believe Linux is suited for such a move in a way that the other OSes are not.
What a load of horseshit. Lynn follows his conscience and speaks up about Cisco's security vulnerabilities, and not only is he severely slapped down by this permanent injunction (which I don't consider 'good news' in any sense), but now the FBI has decided to get involved. It'll be chilling to watch them pull his life apart and examine each bit under a microscope over months or years.
Lynn exposed a serious security flaw that could have been used to compromise networks throughout the nation. Cisco should be rewarding him for protecting them against losses they would no doubt have experienced in the future if this flaw went unreported. As for the government, they should be pinning a medal on Lynn, not investigating him.
By the description (I haven't seen it myself) it would probably be classified as pornography, making it illegal to sell to minors (it would no longer be up to a permissive guardian).
Perhaps you should actually see it before you pass judgement...
I think you'll agree that calling this bit-mapped mess 'pornography' is a serious stretch of the term.
Because a rape victim MAY experience happyness that person is better off?
Exactly. It is the possibility of happiness that makes life preferable to death.
Guess what, maybe the dead man would have had nothing but bad luck and lived a shitty life of misery. Pointless hypothetics lead nowhere, buddy.
Interesting how you claim that 'pointless hypothetics lead nowhere', immediately after using such a pointless hypothetic as your main argument...
One could argue that, I suppose...if one didn't mind being wrong.
Death is rather permanent...its victims never 'recover' from it at all.
If you're still alive, you still have the opportunity to try to move past your experience. When you're dead, that's it.
From TFA:Hope this helps.
What is that dark stuff on the edge of the ice?
That's Mars.
That's easy. Windows.
mmm..mmmmm..mmmmMMHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!
Damn...couldn't keep a straight face. ^_^
Seriously, though, if FreeBSD is no longer king of the mountain, my vote would have to go with NetBSD (it's always been the BSDs, hasn't it?), although the term "best" is rather open-ended, and subject to serious variations of interpretation. Perhaps before we set about answering this question, we ought to decide just what we mean by "best".
Mr. Wong: We own whole Western hemisphere. That good hemisphere.
Prof. Farnsworth: It's the same way on Earth.
I wear a Hawaiian shirt and jeans every Friday.
So far, no one else has gotten the joke.
Mine's "NIC card".