Luckily, my Toshiba 57" has two component inputs.. so hopefully this will use the other one, and my 2/3 pulldown DVD can still occupy the one it has.
It will be nice to see what this TV looks like with HDTV through it.. but I have DirectTV and Im somewhat nervous. We havent even been able to get good analog satellite recently, lots of chunking and black framing on the picture. I sure hope it isnt significantly worse with an HD signal.
That being said, I *love* directv.. its way better than our local monop^h^h^h^hcable company, and the TiVO rules.. I only watch the commercials I _want_ to watch now.
On a side note.. has anyone noticed that the commercials seem to be getting much more "grabby" at the beginning, possibly to get people to notice while they have it on the third forward speed as they zip by? I have actually had to stop and watch a few, just because they piqued my curiosity.
Not lookin forwrd to the triple LNB dish and all the holes Im gonna have to drill however.
Maeryk
Re:Bogusity detection: All of the simple rules fai
on
The Borderlands Of Science
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· Score: 2, Interesting
Telepathy... I have not seen either a proof or a disproof that met my standards. I also have a lot of trouble with defining it. E.g.: If I were to have an implanted cell phone that operated by direct neural connection, and someone else had a corresponding model, would this be telepathy? If so, then it's just a few years away.
Laugh if you want, but I have seen it, and I believe it. Maybe not everyone.. but I know a set of identical twins, and have watched them both together and with one or the other and seen it pretty much in action.
They finish each others sentences and stuff, and I doubt that counts as telepathy, probably counts much more as a "we think along the same lines". But if anyone can explain why one gets stuck for a word and the other calls from two states a way and says "the word you are looking for is X" totally unbidden, I would like to know.
I know a lot of studies have been done on "twinning" and they have pretty much come up with "it works for some people, we have no idea why, but we suspect it has to do with sub-verbal cues". Thats great.. face to face.. but two states away?
To me, thats enough proof that at least these two have some immeasurable link between them. Will we be controlling the android GURT on Mars with telepathy in five years? I dunno. (G)
Watch any of the 'educational' commercial channels (Discovery, TLC, Science) and see the 'documentaries' on complete horse-pooey like ghost-hunting, bigfoot, loch ness monsters, ufos. The amount of air-time this stuff gets is enormous, because it's entertaining. But people are buying it - people think this is science
Hehe. Well, Im not so sure. My Great Uncle (in the way that you have an "uncle" who isnt actually related to you but is a great friend of the family) spent _years_ searching for Bigfoot. His name was Dave Hassinger. (Incidentally, he was the guy who brought back that huge Bengal Tiger that used to be on display at the Smithsonian.) He spent a lot of time in the woods and all over the world, on hunting and research expeditions, and he believed, concretely, one hundred percent in Bigfoot. Didnt believe in aliens, UFO's, or ghosts, to my knowledge, but claimed to have actually seen bigfoot. (Of course, he didnt carry video cameras or anything, and was highly suspect of anyone who claimed to have "video" proof of it, because he had had such a hard time even getting a glimpse.)
Now.. Im not saying he was right, wrong, justified or delusional. Just that this was a very intelligent man, who had spent years in the remotest locations in the world bringing back hard to find animals for the Smithsonian, among other things. He knew a heck of a lot about nature, and truly, deeply, believed what he had seen. I have no idea what happened with his group since he passed on.
Urban legend. Try googling "How Aspirin works" The entire line of COX-2 inhibitors came about because someone finally did figure out aspirin works a couple of decades ago.
Thanks! I had no idea.. gotta do some reading now.
As a self-professed Skeptic, I have to say that the thing that I utter the most often is "I don't know. And you know what? Neither do you." So many people believe in so many things without any sort of examination, it boggles the mind.
Certainly! I agree 100%. Now, I must admit, Im a member of a rather large religion. So Faith has a good amount of sway in my life. But what it boils down to is proof.. what I consider proof may not be what you consider proof. So it is *still* rather subjective.
A lot of my opinions on this sort of thing have been formed in a sort of reverse way. I belong (and have for 10 years) to a group that does medieval recreation.. and in just 10 years, the amount of things "discovered" (re-discovered, really) from that period has changed the way a lot of people look at it. Things that 10 years ago "did not exist" have been found, mostly intact, and have changed some of the theories about life back then (tm) and how people went about it.
This, of course, doesnt stop school textbooks from claiming that "castles didnt have windows" and "houses were drafty all the time because they didnt have glass" (both of which are untrue for most of the middle ages.. just because they didnt have glass doesnt mean they didnt have wooden shutters or thick paper or a number of other solutions, and they also _did_ have glass for a pretty good amount of the later period.)
But any time someone states something as "concrete" either A) exists or B) doesnt exist without having some form of proof one way or the other, (and absence of proof does not neccesarily mean absense of existance.. which seems to be the rule a lot of the "debunkers" run on, at least the hard line ones), I tend to take exactly the same attitude you stated above. "I dont know and neither do you."
I used to subscribe to (and read) the Skeptic Observer at one point. It was interesting.. but I think in some cases the dyed in the wool "skeptics" swing too far on the other side. Yes, the majority of them are anti religion, anti creation, anti anything that cannot be proven, but if you extrapolate a bit, you realize (or I realize, anyway, YMMV) that its very very subjective.
100 years ago they would not have believed aspirin works. (Heck.. medical science STILL cant tell you _why_ it works, just that it does.)
1000 years ago, they probably would not have believed in Lions or a round earth or some magical force that cannot be explained like gravity.. but they all exist.
I worry about anyone who feels the need to debunk and be skeptic just because.. faith is somewhat required in daily life, even if it is faith in the traction of your tires while going around a corner. And the fact that we keep finding scientific reasons for things that have been based on "faith" in the past works both ways.
You're friend's a moron, then. This was being constructed before the park closed, and the area was fenced off for the entire summer. And there's no such thing as "Steel Force".
SOrry.. they had the area fenced, but the big hill wasnt up yet. I double checked with him this morning.
And yes, by the way, there IS something called "Steel Force".. its here in Eastern PA, (as I said) at Dorney Park, which is also owned by Cedar Fair. Steel Force is the second tallest in operation, (In the US, or in the Eastern US.. it keeps going back and forth) apparently, with Millenium Force its big brother.
http://www.dorneypark.com/rides/thrill/steelforc e. cfm
No, apparently they started construction after the park closed last fall, and plan to have it open for next May.
One guy I work with (here in Eastern PA, an area dominated by Steel force.. which I think is only topped by Millenium force, and of course, they own both) is a coaster nut. He went to CP twice this year just to ride them.
When I showed him the webcam pics of the construction about a month ago, he had *no* idea what it was, and hadnt seen it in construction when he was there a week or so before closing. And if you look at the webcams, you realize Steel Force's return loop (I think.. its either that or the Mantis)passes right next to this sucker, so he would have noticed it had it not been there.
keep in mind.. these places wont open till May.. if you arent an East Coaster (not sure about the rest of the US) most parks (with the exception of the Hall of the Rat King) are seasonal. They close on Labor Day (and may stay open weekends only until halloween to get the extra "spooktacular" bucks) and then close entirely until May (or possibly late april.. i never remember) the next year.
Every five minutes or so, a giant, illuminated globe appears on the central screen and starts to rotate, displaying the locations worldwide where hackers are launching the most attacks.
Yep.. most of it is new york, and most of the hits they are aiming for are that giant flashing thing on the rotating illuminated globe labeled "The Gibson".
Then all the Symantec people skateboard around listening to Orbital.
I agree in part with this.... *ALL* certifications aren't a waste, but the A+ certification sure as h*ll is, esp for people with more then a year of experience
THis kind of reminds me of the recent Userfriendly where the interview was for "at least five years experience in XP" or something like that.
The problem with the A+ is A) its outdated, B) its pretty meaningless.. in this day and age, you dont REPAIR power supplies, you put em in boxes and cross-ship them to IBM, or DELL, or whoever.
BUT... (and this is a big but) you probably wont work for any company worth its salt without the A+ cert. I know of companies where _every_ employee is required to be A+ certed, even the HR people.. because that company markets itself as staffing only A+ or better certified people.
I kind of resent the attitude that all A+ certified people are stupid.. I am one and have been in the field for five years at a fortune 500 company now.. and it is absolutely required for my job.. even if I never touch a DIMM or a Fluke Meter. (Though I do use both regularly).
Didn't HP get sued for attempting to corner the market on toner sales? I'm pretty sure they were sued for selling 1/2 empty cartridges with their printers, but could swear they (and others) were sued for having a monopoly on toner cartridges.
For some reason I thought it was Lexmark that got nailed on that one. They still do it, its just that is the "economy" or "prebate" cartridge, and you need to order the "high yield" cartridge when you re-supp. Problem is, the price between the two is rather close (which makes sense.. the ink costs nearly nothing, its the electronics that are expensive) and the number listed on the front of the cartridge is what people usually re-order. (I support those turkeys at work.. the printers (Z-series) are the bomb.. the cartridges dont work out of the box half the time, and when they do they streak or leak like mad). So people continue to buy "half yield" cartridges for huge amounts of money. its a pretty nice scam, really.
Information wants to be free. Hiding technological and medical breakthroughs under the cover of national secrecy is a crime against humanity.
Hmm.. information wants to be free.. Okay.. let me get this straight.. you feel that the launch codes and locations of all US nuclear weapons should be published? Military radio frequencies and scrambling codes for the various air wings? Your Drivers License info should be posted on the back window of your car, right? So if you have two tickets already someone behind you is urged to call the police and let them know you are six miles over the limit again?
Some information wants to be free.. yes.. medical and technological breakthroughs are all well and good, but I think ANY rational person can agree that there is "information" (such as your medical records, or state secrets) that should definately *NOT* be free.
But why does everyone immediately assume the gub'mint is trying to nail someone to a wall unjustly here? Sorry.. your "rights" arent being violated by someone subpoena'ing a weblog. Or what servers you log into. The internet is a public forum.. while the "copyright" on your posts/stories/pictures may revert to you, anyone may read them.
Just a fr'instance.. what if some of the info in one of the "eyeballing" pieces was obviously leaked by a defense worker on the inside, in violation of federal law? Wouldnt you _want_ that person removed from the position of spewing information that really doesnt BELONG in the public domain?
If you are worried about your IP being logged when you get into a server or access online content, dont get online.
A lot of the people here who are complaining about this are probably the same people who defend the guy who took pictures of the Spam King's house. You cannot have it both ways.
You cant have the freedoms granted by the government (laughable as they may be at times) without also following whatever rules make those freedoms a reality. Note: I am not saying those rules are always right.. but you either live within em, or work to change em. You dont thumb your nose at them, then cry when you get caught.
Leaving aside the hygiene, disease, and chemical pollutants issues, what about morality? Higher mammals such as pigs and cattle dream, feel emotions such as fear, love, and anger. On the grand evolutionary scale, they're cousins to humans. If someone finds a way to cheaply grow meat-like protein in a vat that reduces or eliminates animal suffering and the capacity of bad meat to transmit disease, it would be a very good thing.
Please.. when a cow invents a faster TCP/IP stack, I'll worry about its dreams. Till then, pass the A-1 and a sharp knife, cause Im hungry.
Heck.. I'd probably eat people, if it wasnt illegal *grin*
I would imagine not nearly the environmental hazard posed by all the cell-phone people who upgrade their phones each time a new plan comes out with a free phone. Pay phones do not, that I know of, have batteries in them, and are fairly recyclable. (Aluminum, or in older cases, cast iron cases, which translate nicely to melting down). The plastics are recyclable as well.
The fact that large companies (like phone companies or even large corporations) are now being watched closely when disposing of potentially dangerous materials (including computers) means they will probably be stripped, recycled, or waste-reclaimed in China somewhere.
Not many of these phones would hit landfills as "phones" at any rate, unlike the thousands of Cell Phones that people tend to toss out like household garbage, complete with batteries, etc.
Because nothing says non-fiction like a Dirk Pitt novel!
Its not a Pitt novel. Its about Cussler and NUMA actually finding the wrecks, and diving on them, and in some cases bringing them up. (Things like the Hunley.) Its all based on fact, and is basically a trip report of the expeditions to locate them.
Clive Cussler, on top of writing the really good (to me, anyway) Dirk Pitt books, is an avid hunter/finder of wrecks.
This book The Sea Hunters Goes into depth on what he had to go through to find and bring up some of the historic wrecks he was involved in, as well as some quasi-fictional accounts of the ships last hours before sinking. Kinda neat stuff. More interesting is the levels of beurocracy and government meddling and even downright seizure he had to deal with in some cases.
I highly reccomend this book to anyone interested in learning what really goes on in finding/salvaging ships.
Maeryk
The conversion of Brin's "Postman" from book to movie was so putrid as to make Crichton's book "Jurassic Park" look like a literal translation. Brin's book is excellent, anyone into post-apocalyptic stuff should look at it.
Funny that.. I read it as a bad retreading of an old Niven/Pournelle character from (I think) Lucifers Hammer. The mail carrier who must get through after the hammer falls..
There really isnt all that much new S/F I like, unfortunately... mainly cause I cant stand Star Wars or Star Trek crap.
Overlap is to be expected - note especially how Starship Troopers is about fifty-fifty 1 and 2, while Stranger in a Strange Land is about 75/25 2 and 3, and Time Enough for Love is almost 20/80 2 and 3. Number of the Beast is just plain weird
There are reasons for some of that. The neo-fascism stuff was just after/during his early career in the military, where he dealt with fascists close up.. and was disturbed by it.
The "really good ideas" is mainly because he was a really scientifically oriented guy, unlike say, that idiot bradbury, and most of his inventions are quite plausible, and some of them do in fact exist almost exactly as he predicted them.
Horny old man, no doubt. Read "To sail beyond the SUnset".. I got about a chapter in and gave up.. I have better things to do than read about Maureen the Round Heel and how many oedipal complexes are kicked up by Woody during the book.
Number of the Beast, while one of my favorites, has the same issues some of Anthony's books, and the later Keith Laumer stuff has.. it was very very poorly edited, by an editor who had NO idea what he was doing. (Let someone who doesnt know LoTR from a whole in the ground do a re-edit of Jacksons films.. see how bad it is).
But, I really dig Heinleins women.. mainly because most of the women in my family are exactly like that.. intelligent, straight forward, self-thinking, and, self-aware. Unlike a lot of people on this planet.
I think its ridiculous to claim the installer looks "dated".. if it works, and its graphical, why does it matter? Has ANYONE here ever worried about their distro looking "dated"?
I have never EVER had a problem with Mandrake (since 5) and a wheel mouse.. and I have used bus, ps/2, and USB. I have had far more problems with my redhat box and mice. (Including having them dissapear for no real reason).
On "expert" you get a basic disk druid looking partitioning wizard.. it is the easiest one I have ever used. Maybe IM weird, but I found it simple, very quick, and quite intutitive. (It looks (to me, anyway) a lot like the 2K disk wizards).
Yes, it boots a lot of things by default.. but it TELLS you what it is going to boot, and then lets you turn them off if you dont want to, and custom edit your "security" runlevel.
I like it.. and Im *SO* freaking tired of hearing reviewers say "This distro sucks, because the default colors in K are ugly". Who cares? With as easy as it is in K to change your colors and background and themes, what does it matter? Does anyone really run the default schemes anyway?
(Not that I care, Im a windowmaker/blackbox guy..) but I'm very happy with the unified menus in both.. and someone previously said the menus arent laid out intuitively.. Umm.. how "non intuitive" is "networking" "configuration" "applications"?
Served its purpose for me.. I used the startup disk long enough to get (and this is in the misty 3.1 Windows days) the software I needed for my dialup, and never touched it again. I would just as soon see it go away.. think of all the letter carriers who would be able to work longer with not carrying that crap around!
No MP3 support! AUGHHH! I read the release notes while installing last night.. I will re-install Mandrake over it tonight. I just dont like it. Now I realize to each his own and stuff, but if I want XP I'll install XP.. and RedHat has been getting goofier and goofier with each new release. (Yes.. Im a candy code junkie.. but this one is just silly!)
How about a threat to your Fifth Amendment rights against self-incrimination? Taken to its logical conclusion, this box would allow your car to testify against you in court.
Uhh.. how bout you learn to drive, and then dont have to worry about this? Accidents are called accidents. Usually they lead to fender benders, or your car lightly wrapped around a tree/pole/mailbox/cow.
In any case, if you are A) Traveling fast enough to kill AND B) Do Something Stupid (tm), then your car deserves to testify against you in court.
Sorry.. I have a real problem with "It could incriminate me if im guilty!" as a defense against something's existance.
Put another way, my best friend, and the best man at my wedding was killed 11 days after said wedding, by some kid in a minivan who crossed the center line in a Mazda mini-van, spun a pickup out of the way with a mid-bed hit, and proceeded to total a late 70s 2 door chevy tank. I mean total to the point where the top of the drivers door was somewhere in the middle of the dashboard.
His excuse? "I dont know.. I must have blacked out". Because of how the law works, toxicology results could not be released on the killer, and charges couldnt be filed after a short while. Its nasty. But if the car had the box in it, it could tell us what happened.. whether he hit the brakes or not. If he was asleep or not..
Im all in favor of it.
Word of advice, which most of you probably wont need.. if you arent ABSOLUTELY sure you can make it wherever you are going, for whatever reason, call a cab or spend the night. Life is more important than being on time.
Okay. so the box keeps data five seconds before the crash. ALL you need to do is hack it to let you know when it starts recording, and you have five seconds to save yourself! Amazing! They cant build a car that runs more than 3K without an oil change, but they have black boxen that predict the future accurately!
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Luckily, my Toshiba 57" has two component inputs.. so hopefully this will use the other one, and my 2/3 pulldown DVD can still occupy the one it has.
It will be nice to see what this TV looks like with HDTV through it.. but I have DirectTV and Im somewhat nervous. We havent even been able to get good analog satellite recently, lots of chunking and black framing on the picture. I sure hope it isnt significantly worse with an HD signal.
That being said, I *love* directv.. its way better than our local monop^h^h^h^hcable company,
and the TiVO rules.. I only watch the commercials I _want_ to watch now.
On a side note.. has anyone noticed that the commercials seem to be getting much more "grabby" at the beginning, possibly to get people to notice while they have it on the third forward speed as they zip by? I have actually had to stop and watch a few, just because they piqued my curiosity.
Not lookin forwrd to the triple LNB dish and all the holes Im gonna have to drill however.
Maeryk
Telepathy... I have not seen either a proof or a disproof that met my standards. I also have a lot of trouble with defining it. E.g.: If I were to have an implanted cell phone that operated by direct neural connection, and someone else had a corresponding model, would this be telepathy? If so, then it's just a few years away.
Laugh if you want, but I have seen it, and I believe it. Maybe not everyone.. but I know a set of identical twins, and have watched them both together and with one or the other and seen it pretty much in action.
They finish each others sentences and stuff, and I doubt that counts as telepathy, probably counts much more as a "we think along the same lines". But if anyone can explain why one gets stuck for a word and the other calls from two states a way and says "the word you are looking for is X" totally unbidden, I would like to know.
I know a lot of studies have been done on "twinning" and they have pretty much come up with "it works for some people, we have no idea why, but we suspect it has to do with sub-verbal cues". Thats great.. face to face.. but two states away?
To me, thats enough proof that at least these two have some immeasurable link between them. Will we be controlling the android GURT on Mars with telepathy in five years? I dunno. (G)
Maeryk
Watch any of the 'educational' commercial channels (Discovery, TLC, Science) and see the 'documentaries' on complete horse-pooey like ghost-hunting, bigfoot, loch ness monsters, ufos. The amount of air-time this stuff gets is enormous, because it's entertaining. But people are buying it - people think this is science
Hehe. Well, Im not so sure. My Great Uncle (in the way that you have an "uncle" who isnt actually related to you but is a great friend of the family) spent _years_ searching for Bigfoot. His name was Dave Hassinger. (Incidentally, he was the guy who brought back that huge Bengal Tiger that used to be on display at the Smithsonian.) He spent a lot of time in the woods and all over the world, on hunting and research expeditions, and he believed, concretely, one hundred percent in Bigfoot. Didnt believe in aliens, UFO's, or ghosts, to my knowledge, but claimed to have actually seen bigfoot. (Of course, he didnt carry video cameras or anything, and was highly suspect of anyone who claimed to have "video" proof of it, because he had had such a hard time even getting a glimpse.)
Now.. Im not saying he was right, wrong, justified or delusional. Just that this was a very intelligent man, who had spent years in the remotest locations in the world bringing back hard to find animals for the Smithsonian, among other things. He knew a heck of a lot about nature, and truly, deeply, believed what he had seen. I have no idea what happened with his group since he passed on.
Maeryk
Urban legend. Try googling "How Aspirin works" The entire line of COX-2 inhibitors came about because someone finally did figure out aspirin works a couple of decades ago.
Thanks! I had no idea.. gotta do some reading now.
Maeryk
As a self-professed Skeptic, I have to say that the thing that I utter the most often is "I don't know. And you know what? Neither do you." So many people believe in so many things without any sort of examination, it boggles the mind.
Certainly! I agree 100%. Now, I must admit, Im a member of a rather large religion. So Faith has a good amount of sway in my life. But what it boils down to is proof.. what I consider proof may not be what you consider proof. So it is *still* rather subjective.
A lot of my opinions on this sort of thing have been formed in a sort of reverse way. I belong (and have for 10 years) to a group that does medieval recreation.. and in just 10 years, the amount of things "discovered" (re-discovered, really) from that period has changed the way a lot of people look at it. Things that 10 years ago "did not exist" have been found, mostly intact, and have changed some of the theories about life back then (tm) and how people went about it.
This, of course, doesnt stop school textbooks from claiming that "castles didnt have windows" and "houses were drafty all the time because they didnt have glass" (both of which are untrue for most of the middle ages.. just because they didnt have glass doesnt mean they didnt have wooden shutters or thick paper or a number of other solutions, and they also _did_ have glass for a pretty good amount of the later period.)
But any time someone states something as "concrete" either A) exists or B) doesnt exist
without having some form of proof one way or the other, (and absence of proof does not neccesarily mean absense of existance.. which seems to be the rule a lot of the "debunkers" run on, at least the hard line ones), I tend to take exactly the same attitude you stated above. "I dont know and neither do you."
Maeryk
I used to subscribe to (and read) the Skeptic Observer at one point. It was interesting.. but I think in some cases the dyed in the wool "skeptics" swing too far on the other side. Yes, the majority of them are anti religion, anti creation, anti anything that cannot be proven, but if you extrapolate a bit, you realize (or I realize, anyway, YMMV) that its very very subjective.
100 years ago they would not have believed aspirin works. (Heck.. medical science STILL cant tell you _why_ it works, just that it does.)
1000 years ago, they probably would not have believed in Lions or a round earth or some magical force that cannot be explained like gravity.. but they all exist.
I worry about anyone who feels the need to debunk and be skeptic just because.. faith is somewhat required in daily life, even if it is faith in the traction of your tires while going around a corner. And the fact that we keep finding scientific reasons for things that have been based on "faith" in the past works both ways.
Just my opinion, though far from humble.
Maeryk
You're friend's a moron, then. This was being constructed before the park closed, and the area was fenced off for the entire summer. And there's no such thing as "Steel Force".
c e. cfm
SOrry.. they had the area fenced, but the big hill wasnt up yet. I double checked with him this morning.
And yes, by the way, there IS something called "Steel Force".. its here in Eastern PA, (as I said) at Dorney Park, which is also owned by Cedar Fair. Steel Force is the second tallest in operation, (In the US, or in the Eastern US.. it keeps going back and forth) apparently, with Millenium Force its big brother.
http://www.dorneypark.com/rides/thrill/steelfor
Who is the moron?
Maeryk
No, apparently they started construction after the park closed last fall, and plan to have it open for next May.
One guy I work with (here in Eastern PA, an area dominated by Steel force.. which I think is only topped by Millenium force, and of course, they own both) is a coaster nut. He went to CP twice this year just to ride them.
When I showed him the webcam pics of the construction about a month ago, he had *no* idea what it was, and hadnt seen it in construction when he was there a week or so before closing. And if you look at the webcams, you realize Steel Force's return loop (I think.. its either that or the Mantis)passes right next to this sucker, so he would have noticed it had it not been there.
keep in mind.. these places wont open till May.. if you arent an East Coaster (not sure about the rest of the US) most parks (with the exception of the Hall of the Rat King) are seasonal. They close on Labor Day (and may stay open weekends only until halloween to get the extra "spooktacular" bucks) and then close entirely until May (or possibly late april.. i never remember) the next year.
Every five minutes or so, a giant, illuminated globe appears on the central screen and starts to rotate, displaying the locations worldwide where hackers are launching the most attacks.
Yep.. most of it is new york, and most of the hits they are aiming for are that giant flashing thing on the rotating illuminated globe labeled "The Gibson".
Then all the Symantec people skateboard around listening to Orbital.
maeryk
I agree in part with this.... *ALL* certifications aren't a waste, but the A+ certification sure as h*ll is, esp for people with more then a year of experience
THis kind of reminds me of the recent Userfriendly where the interview was for "at least five years experience in XP" or something like that.
The problem with the A+ is A) its outdated, B) its pretty meaningless.. in this day and age, you dont REPAIR power supplies, you put em in boxes and cross-ship them to IBM, or DELL, or whoever.
BUT... (and this is a big but) you probably wont work for any company worth its salt without the A+ cert. I know of companies where _every_ employee is required to be A+ certed, even the HR people.. because that company markets itself as staffing only A+ or better certified people.
I kind of resent the attitude that all A+ certified people are stupid.. I am one and have been in the field for five years at a fortune 500 company now.. and it is absolutely required for my job.. even if I never touch a DIMM or a Fluke Meter. (Though I do use both regularly).
Maeryk
Didn't HP get sued for attempting to corner the market on toner sales? I'm pretty sure they were sued for selling 1/2 empty cartridges with their printers, but could swear they (and others) were sued for having a monopoly on toner cartridges.
For some reason I thought it was Lexmark that got nailed on that one. They still do it, its just that is the "economy" or "prebate" cartridge, and you need to order the "high yield" cartridge when you re-supp. Problem is, the price between the two is rather close (which makes sense.. the ink costs nearly nothing, its the electronics that are expensive) and the number listed on the front of the cartridge is what people usually re-order.
(I support those turkeys at work.. the printers (Z-series) are the bomb.. the cartridges dont work out of the box half the time, and when they do they streak or leak like mad). So people continue to buy "half yield" cartridges for huge amounts of money. its a pretty nice scam, really.
Maeryk
No, quite frankly I would not.
Information wants to be free. Hiding technological and medical breakthroughs under the cover of national secrecy is a crime against humanity.
Hmm.. information wants to be free.. Okay.. let me get this straight.. you feel that the launch codes and locations of all US nuclear weapons should be published? Military radio frequencies and scrambling codes for the various air wings?
Your Drivers License info should be posted on the back window of your car, right? So if you have two tickets already someone behind you is urged to call the police and let them know you are six miles over the limit again?
Some information wants to be free.. yes.. medical and technological breakthroughs are all well and good, but I think ANY rational person can agree that there is "information" (such as your medical records, or state secrets) that should definately *NOT* be free.
Maeryk
But why does everyone immediately assume the gub'mint is trying to nail someone to a wall unjustly here? Sorry.. your "rights" arent being violated by someone subpoena'ing a weblog. Or what servers you log into. The internet is a public forum.. while the "copyright" on your posts/stories/pictures may revert to you, anyone may read them.
Just a fr'instance.. what if some of the info in one of the "eyeballing" pieces was obviously leaked by a defense worker on the inside, in violation of federal law? Wouldnt you _want_ that person removed from the position of spewing information that really doesnt BELONG in the public domain?
If you are worried about your IP being logged when you get into a server or access online content, dont get online.
A lot of the people here who are complaining about this are probably the same people who defend the guy who took pictures of the Spam King's house. You cannot have it both ways.
You cant have the freedoms granted by the government (laughable as they may be at times) without also following whatever rules make those freedoms a reality. Note: I am not saying those rules are always right.. but you either live within em, or work to change em. You dont thumb your nose at them, then cry when you get caught.
Maeryk
Leaving aside the hygiene, disease, and chemical pollutants issues, what about morality? Higher mammals such as pigs and cattle dream, feel emotions such as fear, love, and anger. On the grand evolutionary scale, they're cousins to humans. If someone finds a way to cheaply grow meat-like protein in a vat that reduces or eliminates animal suffering and the capacity of bad meat to transmit disease, it would be a very good thing.
Please.. when a cow invents a faster TCP/IP stack, I'll worry about its dreams. Till then, pass the A-1 and a sharp knife, cause Im hungry.
Heck.. I'd probably eat people, if it wasnt illegal *grin*
Maeryk
I would imagine not nearly the environmental hazard posed by all the cell-phone people who upgrade their phones each time a new plan comes out with a free phone. Pay phones do not, that I know of, have batteries in them, and are fairly recyclable. (Aluminum, or in older cases, cast iron cases, which translate nicely to melting down). The plastics are recyclable as well.
The fact that large companies (like phone companies or even large corporations) are now being watched closely when disposing of potentially dangerous materials (including computers) means they will probably be stripped, recycled, or waste-reclaimed in China somewhere.
Not many of these phones would hit landfills as "phones" at any rate, unlike the thousands of Cell Phones that people tend to toss out like household garbage, complete with batteries, etc.
Maeryk
Because nothing says non-fiction like a Dirk Pitt novel!
Its not a Pitt novel. Its about Cussler and NUMA actually finding the wrecks, and diving on them, and in some cases bringing them up. (Things like the Hunley.) Its all based on fact, and is basically a trip report of the expeditions to locate them.
Maeryk
Clive Cussler, on top of writing the really good (to me, anyway) Dirk Pitt books, is an avid hunter/finder of wrecks. This book The Sea Hunters Goes into depth on what he had to go through to find and bring up some of the historic wrecks he was involved in, as well as some quasi-fictional accounts of the ships last hours before sinking. Kinda neat stuff. More interesting is the levels of beurocracy and government meddling and even downright seizure he had to deal with in some cases. I highly reccomend this book to anyone interested in learning what really goes on in finding/salvaging ships. Maeryk
The conversion of Brin's "Postman" from book to movie was so putrid as to make Crichton's book "Jurassic Park" look like a literal translation. Brin's book is excellent, anyone into post-apocalyptic stuff should look at it.
Funny that.. I read it as a bad retreading of an old Niven/Pournelle character from (I think) Lucifers Hammer. The mail carrier who must get through after the hammer falls..
There really isnt all that much new S/F I like, unfortunately... mainly cause I cant stand Star Wars or Star Trek crap.
Maeryk
Overlap is to be expected - note especially how Starship Troopers is about fifty-fifty 1 and 2, while Stranger in a Strange Land is about 75/25 2 and 3, and Time Enough for Love is almost 20/80 2 and 3. Number of the Beast is just plain weird
There are reasons for some of that. The neo-fascism stuff was just after/during his early career in the military, where he dealt with fascists close up.. and was disturbed by it.
The "really good ideas" is mainly because he was
a really scientifically oriented guy, unlike say, that idiot bradbury, and most of his inventions are quite plausible, and some of them do in fact exist almost exactly as he predicted them.
Horny old man, no doubt. Read "To sail beyond the SUnset".. I got about a chapter in and gave up.. I have better things to do than read about Maureen the Round Heel and how many oedipal complexes are kicked up by Woody during the book.
Number of the Beast, while one of my favorites, has the same issues some of Anthony's books, and the later Keith Laumer stuff has.. it was very very poorly edited, by an editor who had NO idea what he was doing. (Let someone who doesnt know LoTR from a whole in the ground do a re-edit of Jacksons films.. see how bad it is).
But, I really dig Heinleins women.. mainly because most of the women in my family are exactly like that.. intelligent, straight forward,
self-thinking, and, self-aware. Unlike a lot of people on this planet.
Maeryk
Adressing point by point:
I think its ridiculous to claim the installer looks "dated".. if it works, and its graphical, why does it matter? Has ANYONE here ever worried about their distro looking "dated"?
I have never EVER had a problem with Mandrake (since 5) and a wheel mouse.. and I have used bus, ps/2, and USB. I have had far more problems with my redhat box and mice. (Including having them dissapear for no real reason).
On "expert" you get a basic disk druid looking partitioning wizard.. it is the easiest one I have ever used. Maybe IM weird, but I found it simple, very quick, and quite intutitive. (It looks (to me, anyway) a lot like the 2K disk wizards).
Yes, it boots a lot of things by default.. but it TELLS you what it is going to boot, and then lets you turn them off if you dont want to, and custom edit your "security" runlevel.
I like it.. and Im *SO* freaking tired of hearing reviewers say "This distro sucks, because the default colors in K are ugly". Who cares? With as easy as it is in K to change your colors and background and themes, what does it matter? Does anyone really run the default schemes anyway?
(Not that I care, Im a windowmaker/blackbox guy..) but I'm very happy with the unified menus in both.. and someone previously said the menus arent laid out intuitively.. Umm.. how "non intuitive" is "networking" "configuration" "applications"?
Seems more intuitive than WIndows, to me.
Maeryk
Served its purpose for me.. I used the startup disk long enough to get (and this is in the misty 3.1 Windows days) the software I needed for my dialup, and never touched it again. I would just as soon see it go away.. think of all the letter carriers who would be able to work longer with not carrying that crap around!
Maeryk
No MP3 support! AUGHHH! I read the release notes while installing last night.. I will re-install Mandrake over it tonight. I just dont like it. Now I realize to each his own and stuff, but if I want XP I'll install XP.. and RedHat has been getting goofier and goofier with each new release.
(Yes.. Im a candy code junkie.. but this one is just silly!)
Maeryk
Trooper: Sir, small green AT-ATs approaching!
... Its that loud "lawn-mower" sound... Kind of like a trash-compacter...
Rebel Officer: Damn! Are you sure?
Trooper: Yes, can't you hear it?
Officer: are they coming for tea?
Trooper: No Sir.. I think its worse than that.. they have a FLAG.. (and saws)
Maeryk
How about a threat to your Fifth Amendment rights against self-incrimination? Taken to its logical conclusion, this box would allow your car to testify against you in court.
Uhh.. how bout you learn to drive, and then dont have to worry about this? Accidents are called accidents. Usually they lead to fender benders, or your car lightly wrapped around a tree/pole/mailbox/cow.
In any case, if you are A) Traveling fast enough to kill AND B) Do Something Stupid (tm), then your car deserves to testify against you in court.
Sorry.. I have a real problem with "It could incriminate me if im guilty!" as a defense against something's existance.
Put another way, my best friend, and the best man at my wedding was killed 11 days after said wedding, by some kid in a minivan who crossed the center line in a Mazda mini-van, spun a pickup out of the way with a mid-bed hit, and proceeded to total a late 70s 2 door chevy tank. I mean total to the point where the top of the drivers door was somewhere in the middle of the dashboard.
His excuse? "I dont know.. I must have blacked out". Because of how the law works, toxicology results could not be released on the killer, and charges couldnt be filed after a short while. Its nasty. But if the car had the box in it, it could tell us what happened.. whether he hit the brakes or not. If he was asleep or not..
Im all in favor of it.
Word of advice, which most of you probably wont need.. if you arent ABSOLUTELY sure you can make it wherever you are going, for whatever reason, call a cab or spend the night. Life is more important than being on time.
maeryk
Okay. so the box keeps data five seconds before the crash. ALL you need to do is hack it to let you know when it starts recording, and you have five seconds to save yourself! Amazing! They cant build a car that runs more than 3K without an oil change, but they have black boxen that predict the future accurately!
:P
Maeryk