A little over a year ago, Mrs Druid got a mac, in that time I've found myself using the mac more and more, and the windoze box less and less. These days I only use the Windoze box when Mrs Druid is using the mac.
OS X really is a very nice environment, and as a Unix programmer, I like the fact that it's Darwin (a descendant of Free BSD) under all that sugar coating.
BTW - while there's some truth to the claim that Apple desktops are more expensive than a similarly powered PC, have a look at laptop prices. Apples are much more price competitive in that market.
Also, Zinho is correct in pointing out that a magnetic field can accelerate a non-ferrous, non-polarized material, but it has to be a changing magnetic field, since the effect is based on currents induced into the object.by the same magnetic field.
So, we've got the generators on the end of the 3-metre arms, and we're feeding the current back to the centre, presumably along wiring of some kind. If this is moving at high speed through even a very weak magnetic field, surely there would be some kind of force acting on the probe?
(still just speculating here, I'd want to eliminate all the 'boring' explanations before rewriting the laws of physics)
I live 10 time-zones away from the current client I'm supporting, which means their working hours are 6pm till 2am my time.
So, I have a full development environment at home, including legal copies of all the software I need, broadband access, etc. All paid for by my employer (actually, the PC belongs to me).
When the phone rings (never after 10pm) the meter starts running, every call, every email, every 'log on at 9 and check everythings ok' is billed for.
Why does my employer pay for all of this?
Because they want the work done, and I don't work for free.
You're obviously a bunch of terrorists up to no good !
Well, if the news article I was reading a few weeks ago is to be believed you are. As far as I could tell, a guy was arrested as a suspected terrorist because
a) He was a muslim b) He had frequently accessed government records of building plans, electricity conduits, gas lines, etc.
Apparently, the fact that the guy was an architect was just a clever "cover story".
Ok, so there may have been more to the story than made the papers, but these days looking at maps is seen as a suspicious activity by our governments.
Thats funny, I saw the story for the first time on CNN the day it happened. They covered the 'discovery', talked about 'binary munitions', and had a brief quote from (I think) Wolfowitz warning that these were preliminary field tests only, and may be unreliable.
From the fact that all of the major news outlets have dropped the story like a hot potatoe (If you'll forgive the Quailism) I'd say the full tests are failing to confirm the initial field test. (field test equipment often gives false-positives, on a better-safe-than-sorry basis).
This incident seems destined to become just another 'discovery'' of WMDs that gets the front page, with the 'correction' either never published or getting a paragraph on page 17 a couple of weeks later.
I mis-typed the URL of my preferred search-engine, and ended up at a typo-squatting porn-site that proclaimed itself to be "The official internet incest site" and filled my screen with a series of images best left undescribed.
It did the usual thing, you close one window and it opens another 2, and I was at work so after a few seconds I took the brute-force approach and turned off the power.
I pulled the network plug, re-started the computer, and fired up the browser, sure enough, the browser immediately tried to access the same site. It took me over an hour to clean the f**king thing off my PC, all the while being secretive about the whole thing because I didn't want to explain to the boss why I had these websites in my browser history.
And I couldn't even report the bastards to the cops, as there was an article in the paper a few months earlier about someone who had a similar experience, called the cops, and ended up facing criminal charges as they took his complaint as a 'confession' to the crime of downloading child porn. I never heard if he was convicted, but call me a coward if you like, I'd rather not try my luck with the court system.
So, nudge-nudge-wink-wink all you like, but it does happen, and one day it may happen to you.
Seriously, there was a story in the paper a few months ago, about a luxury hotel that had a new manager arrive from 'head office' (a European country, I'm not interested in slandering the nationality involved)
The manager was berating a bell-boy for not being quick enough, and gave him a slap on the back of the head (a-la Fawlty Towers). The bell-boy turned around and flattened the guy, got fired, sued for unfair dismissal, and got a nice juicy settlement.
We don't take that sort of shit from management here, and neither should you seppos.
Lets see, how about #53217, just below "Does the light stay on in the fridge when the door is closed?"
Come on people, get a life. Who gives a fsck whether the guy phones in a few reports now and then?
How many of the people who are so concerned at this 'deception' were willing to be 'understanding' when they found out GWB invaded a country and killed thousands of innocent people based on a pack of lis about WMDs?
Actually, a couple of those names and/or photos they published were wrong. If memory serves, one turned out to have died a year or so before S11 (a local journalism professor found this out in 5 minutes via a google search, apparently the FBI have never heard of google). The other turned out to be some arab guy on the flight who had nothing to do with the hijacking.
This is pure speculation, I have no inside knowledge whatsoever, but what if Cornice needed some venture capital, and approached Apple with a deal like this....
"How about you kick in $x million now to help us get our production line set up, and in return we'll agree sell you x million drives at a steeply discounted price."
Cornice wins - they get their product to market, with guaranteed sales Apple wins - they get to sell their iPods at a price that none of their competitors can beat, thus enhancing their dominance of the market. The consumer wins - they get an iPod cheaper than would be possible otherwise. Rio/Dell/etc lose.
It's only natural that we'd assume that when you labelled yourself a monarchy in all official communications that you actually MEANT it.
Yes, that annoys me too, the whole monarchy thing gets up my nose immensely, but no-one who lives under the system has any excuse for actually believing that it's the monarch who's in charge.
Interestingly, early on in the dispute, the colonists petitioned the crown to intervene in their dispute with parliament, so they obviously knew who their real beef was with. But when you're trying to convince people to risk their lives in bloody revolution, talk of 'Liberty' or 'Democracy' is far more effective than talk of 'removing the Stamp tax'.
Since the Civil War (17th century - The important thing to remember about King Charles I is that he was 5'8" tall at the start of his reign, and 4'10" tall at the end of it) the monarchs have not had any power to prevent the parliament doing whatever it likes. Contrary to much of the propaganda put about in the US re the American Revolution, the King had no real power even back then. The American Revolution was a dispute between the British Parliament, not between 'democrats' and 'monarchists'.
Basically, the royals are an expensive anacronism who serve no useful purpose, (except maybe tourism) certainly not as a break on the excesses of the parliament.
Slashdot Mirror
Yes, the money's in the hardware, that's why Dell makes so much more money than Microsoft .....
.....
....
......
....
Um, let me re-phrase that
That's why Gateway makes so much more money than Microsoft
Um, that's not right either, hang on
I'm going to have to think of a good example and get back to you
I'd definitely switch.
A little over a year ago, Mrs Druid got a mac, in that time I've found myself using the mac more and more, and the windoze box less and less. These days I only use the Windoze box when Mrs Druid is using the mac.
OS X really is a very nice environment, and as a Unix programmer, I like the fact that it's Darwin (a descendant of Free BSD) under all that sugar coating.
BTW - while there's some truth to the claim that Apple desktops are more expensive than a similarly powered PC, have a look at laptop prices. Apples are much more price competitive in that market.
My next laptop will be an iBook !
Somebody probably noticed that 'Family First' are allied with the Liberal Party.
;)
In Australia, the 'Liberals' are the right-wing party, something that confuses many septics (not that that's difficult
Also, Zinho is correct in pointing out that a magnetic field can accelerate a non-ferrous, non-polarized material, but it has to be a changing magnetic field, since the effect is based on currents induced into the object.by the same magnetic field.
So, we've got the generators on the end of the 3-metre arms, and we're feeding the current back to the centre, presumably along wiring of some kind. If this is moving at high speed through even a very weak magnetic field, surely there would be some kind of force acting on the probe?
(still just speculating here, I'd want to eliminate all the 'boring' explanations before rewriting the laws of physics)
Um, I'm way out of my area of expertice here, so forgive me if this is utter drivel.
The probes are basically big lumps of metal moving at high speed through space.
How much do we know about the magnetic fields in deep space?
Could this be some fairly boring electromagnetic effect?
Because they can.
Because the employees let them.
I live 10 time-zones away from the current client I'm supporting, which means their working hours are 6pm till 2am my time.
So, I have a full development environment at home, including legal copies of all the software I need, broadband access, etc. All paid for by my employer (actually, the PC belongs to me).
When the phone rings (never after 10pm) the meter starts running, every call, every email, every 'log on at 9 and check everythings ok' is billed for.
Why does my employer pay for all of this?
Because they want the work done, and I don't work for free.
You're obviously a bunch of terrorists up to no good !
Well, if the news article I was reading a few weeks ago is to be believed you are. As far as I could tell, a guy was arrested as a suspected terrorist because
a) He was a muslim
b) He had frequently accessed government records of building plans, electricity conduits, gas lines, etc.
Apparently, the fact that the guy was an architect was just a clever "cover story".
Ok, so there may have been more to the story than made the papers, but these days looking at maps is seen as a suspicious activity by our governments.
Thats funny, I saw the story for the first time on CNN the day it happened. They covered the 'discovery', talked about 'binary munitions', and had a brief quote from (I think) Wolfowitz warning that these were preliminary field tests only, and may be unreliable.
From the fact that all of the major news outlets have dropped the story like a hot potatoe (If you'll forgive the Quailism) I'd say the full tests are failing to confirm the initial field test. (field test equipment often gives false-positives, on a better-safe-than-sorry basis).
This incident seems destined to become just another 'discovery'' of WMDs that gets the front page, with the 'correction' either never published or getting a paragraph on page 17 a couple of weeks later.
but the cost of the dilithium chrystals will bankrupt you.
I mis-typed the URL of my preferred search-engine, and ended up at a typo-squatting porn-site that proclaimed itself to be
"The official internet incest site" and filled my screen with a series of images best left undescribed.
It did the usual thing, you close one window and it opens another 2, and I was at work so after a few seconds I took the brute-force approach and turned off the power.
I pulled the network plug, re-started the computer, and fired up the browser, sure enough, the browser immediately tried to access the same site. It took me over an hour to clean the f**king thing off my PC, all the while being secretive about the whole thing because I didn't want to explain to the boss why I had these websites in my browser history.
And I couldn't even report the bastards to the cops, as there was an article in the paper a few months earlier about someone who had a similar experience, called the cops, and ended up facing criminal charges as they took his complaint as a 'confession' to the crime of downloading child porn. I never heard if he was convicted, but call me a coward if you like, I'd rather not try my luck with the court system.
So, nudge-nudge-wink-wink all you like, but it does happen, and one day it may happen to you.
They'd get a broken jaw.
Seriously, there was a story in the paper a few months ago, about a luxury hotel that had a new manager arrive from 'head office' (a European country, I'm not interested in slandering the nationality involved)
The manager was berating a bell-boy for not being quick enough, and gave him a slap on the back of the head (a-la Fawlty Towers). The bell-boy turned around and flattened the guy, got fired, sued for unfair dismissal, and got a nice juicy settlement.
We don't take that sort of shit from management here, and neither should you seppos.
Check out the map at http://www.csail.mit.edu/resources/maps/3/381.gif
I'd be more than happy to bear the shame of the building name, if I got to spend my lunchtime on the holodeck !
Check out the 'Executive Producer' credit on imdb
That would be quite a trick!
And when the software fails.....
Tank to US army mainenance tech.
"Drop your weapon.
You have 10 seconds to Comply"
Lets see, how about #53217, just below
"Does the light stay on in the fridge when the door is closed?"
Come on people, get a life.
Who gives a fsck whether the guy phones in a few reports now and then?
How many of the people who are so concerned at this 'deception' were willing to be 'understanding' when they found out GWB invaded a country and killed thousands of innocent people based on a pack of lis about WMDs?
Actually, a couple of those names and/or photos they published were wrong.
If memory serves, one turned out to have died a year or so before S11 (a local journalism professor found this out in 5 minutes via a google search, apparently the FBI have never heard of google). The other turned out to be some arab guy on the flight who had nothing to do with the hijacking.
Aren't all fingerprints digital?
This is pure speculation, I have no inside knowledge whatsoever, but what if Cornice needed some venture capital, and approached Apple with a deal like this....
"How about you kick in $x million now to help us get our production line set up, and in return we'll agree sell you x million drives at a steeply discounted price."
Cornice wins - they get their product to market, with guaranteed sales
Apple wins - they get to sell their iPods at a price that none of their competitors can beat, thus enhancing their dominance of the market.
The consumer wins - they get an iPod cheaper than would be possible otherwise.
Rio/Dell/etc lose.
I never said anything about citizens of the Irish Republic, I just said 'Irish'.
You may care to consult a map of Ireland some time, there'a a border quite clearly marked.
There are a great many Irish people who are very keen to retain their british citizenship.
There's been quite a bit of blood shed over the issue.
But then, there's no US military involvement, so FOX news probably doesn't cover it.
It's only natural that we'd assume that when you labelled yourself a monarchy in all official communications that you actually MEANT it.
Yes, that annoys me too, the whole monarchy thing gets up my nose immensely, but no-one who lives under the system has any excuse for actually believing that it's the monarch who's in charge.
Interestingly, early on in the dispute, the colonists petitioned the crown to intervene in their dispute with parliament, so they obviously knew who their real beef was with. But when you're trying to convince people to risk their lives in bloody revolution, talk of 'Liberty' or 'Democracy' is far more effective than talk of 'removing the Stamp tax'.
Oops, please read the above as
The American Revolution was a dispute between the colonies and the British Parliament, not between 'democrats' and 'monarchists'.
Um, actually not true.
Since the Civil War (17th century - The important thing to remember about King Charles I is that he was 5'8" tall at the start of his reign, and 4'10" tall at the end of it) the monarchs have not had any power to prevent the parliament doing whatever it likes. Contrary to much of the propaganda put about in the US re the American Revolution, the King had no real power even back then. The American Revolution was a dispute between the British Parliament, not between 'democrats' and 'monarchists'.
Basically, the royals are an expensive anacronism who serve no useful purpose, (except maybe tourism) certainly not as a break on the excesses of the parliament.
I'm british, and I don't understand it either.
Personally, I'd sell the lot for dog-food.
But then, I've never understood the American fascination with the Kennedys.
Not that there's anything wrong with that.