Oh -- and when driving, how often are you blinded by the glare of street-side spot or flood lights, and your night vision trashed? I'm talking about ground-level floodlights and flood lights shining directly into oncoming traffic (usually those lights are for signs or flagpoles or decorative landscape or hardscape), or parking lots where the lights are aimed parallel to traffic? Those are wasteful, they are polluting the night sky with excessive light, and they are also safety concerns.
Yes it is a matter of safety, but take a look at the variety of fixtures available. In some towns there is widespread use of street light fixtures where there is NO horizontal face in the light's bezel; it's all down-facing, directing the light to the ground. There is some reflection from the ground to the sky of course (that is unavoidable) but in those areas the sky is much darker than it is in towns where conventional street lamps with the convex half-globes are used, with a lot of horizontal and even upward light emission.
Likewise for home lighting - why should any light be visible from ABOVE the lamp's install location? The light should be directed to the ground where it is needed, not up into the sky, not lighting the trees, and so forth. All it does is crap up the sky so we don't even know what the milky way looks like any more. Where I grew up I thought the sky was dark (it was probably somewhere between Class 4 and class 3, but then I've read about class 2 and class 1 sky and that the milky way is actually quite visible - not just as a faint lighted haze but with definite features, similar to what one sees in time-lapse photography. It's really sad that we never get to see those features. I'd rather look up and see the gorgeous galaxy we live in than to see an orangy glow at night.
Perhaps Comcast will experience a 'slowdown' in its profits...
That said, FiOS can't be rolled out fast enough. Sadly, most people have either cable or DSL and sometimes only cable as a choice for broad band.
One of my friends who works for Comcast tells me Comcast at large is terrified of FIOS because they are rapidly losing their local television monopolies and FIOS is simply a better product when it comes to bandwidth delivery.
I use Bittorrent a couple of times a month to download Linux distributions, and also use it to download things like Autopatcher (I know, the torrents are out of date and I need to look into building it myself but ANYHOW. . . ) -- you know, legitimate traffic. I don't even bother with downloading television episodes any more.
Seriously though, I fail to see why Linux is not good for the desktop. The whole beauty of Linux is it can be tailored specifically for a purpose; that is why it is so prevalent in headless embedded devices such as routers, multi-display devices such as cellphones, massive servers, supercomputers, gaming devices, PDAs, and desktop and laptop computers. The kernel can be tuned for a particular task or platform, it can be configured to be realtime or not, and the scheduler can be adjusted.
Out of the box, most distros' settings are great for the desktop and for light-duty servers. I do not agree with the implication that Linux is not ideally suited to the desktop. They are constructing a strawman to pick apart when really they should just come out with the truth: they like BeOS (it's interesting. I do not like it, it reminds me of Mac OS Classic, but it is interesting) and they want to promote it, and that they do not intend for it to be used on server or embedded devices so they will not be providing that capability. It's a more honest approach to simply state that than to imply Linux is not up to par for the desktop.
Note I did not say ease of configuration: I have run Linux off and on since it had to be installed from a 7-floppy image, and that was back in 1992 or 1992, downloading them using kermit (OUCH!) over a 1200 baud modem. It was HARD to use then - hardware support was lacking, etc.
When the slackware CD distribution came out I ran that - I could get a very basic desktop running, but 8-bit only. By that time VLB was all the rage. and I had the infamous Diamond Stealth 32 VLB card. The ET4000 server would not run with this card because of some proprietary extensions to it, so I learned enough x86 assembly (I had come over to the PC from the C= and Amiga computers and programmed assembly on those) to write a utility which would probe the card's registers with various values, respond to keystrokes, and log the results. I finally figured out what needed to be set and I patched the X server to work - and had 24-bit color in X! I should have submitted that code and utility to the project but at the time I didn't know I could contribute to OSS projects.
Anyway, it was a pain in the ass to configure. Once it was configured, it was a pain in the ass to use. I had to view images from the command line? Launch GUI programs from the command line? If I wanted a menu, I had to edit a slew of poorly-documented.rc files? I liked FVWM over the alternatives and considering the state of Linux at the time my desktop was pretty slick, but it was by no means easy to use. I learned a heck of a lot on that system. When Gnome came out I ran gnome, on Redhat (and later Caldera Linux - don't laugh, at the time Caldera Linux was pretty good, and Caldera had not morphed into SCO and become spawn of Satan yet) - and thought KDE sucked wind (at the time it did).
Then, I went from a job which was 100% windows to one that was 150% windows - as in I worked in Windows at work for about 50-60 hours a week, then I had to do more work at home, on Windows (yes, I was a sucker working unpaid overtime for a dot-com, and got NOTHING from my stock options!). I had to dump Linux - but on the bright side my hardware worked! Well, I was on SMP systems (at home!) by then, so everything worked, well, except my Soundblaster Live! card because of the race condition Creative folks FINALLY admitted to only a few years ago when multi-core chips hit the market and SMP became mainstream.
Well, between then and 2005, Linux went and growed up big and strong - I guess Tux drank milk or took steroids or something. Bleeding-edge chipsets still didn't work well, USB was a little flaky, SATA was weak, but less-than-bleeding-edge hardware worked better, more reliably than Windows. On top of that, KDE was usable. No, not just usable - damn good. The best desktop environment I've ever used - and this includes both CDE (hated it, but it was easy to use!) and SGI's Indigo Magic (loved it! At the time, mid-90s, it was fantastic).
I dual booted Windows for a while. I used Windows about half the time, and Linux half the time. Then, KDE was updated (to 3.1 I think) - what a difference. On a dual Celeron with 1GB RAM, compared to Windows XP, performance was excellent. It was fast and responsive. I could open a SINGLE file browser and have multiple Windows - File Manager-like split views, Explorer-like tabbed views, multiple tree controls, PLUS I could seamlessly access FTP, SMB/CIFS, and SSH/Fish shares and drag and drop between them all! Not only that, with the customizable views, thumbnail views which were USABLE, and the various application preview plugins, Linux became more user-friendly than the Macintosh, more capable out of the box than Windows, and was actually supporting hardware pretty well.
Then, SuSE upgraded to the 2.6 kernel. This made all the difference in the world. Not only was the desktop more capable and easy to use than Windows, OS X, or $foo, most current hardware out of the box worked - better than Windows. USB became more reliable than Windows,
Even if someone is cutting the cables, as telecom and undersea cable experts believe is unlikely,
Having those cables cut (and I use the term generically in this case, not in reference to a deliberate act) is relatively uncommon compared to what we've seen in the last few days. Five major lines cut in the last few days, in the Middle East, specifically disrupting states our current administration dislikes, is just too convenient to be coincidence.
Sure, if it were scuba divers, one would be at danger of narcosis and other scary stuff but think about it. if Muslim extremists want to provoke a Jihad, they do not worry about dying - they welcome it, and the 9/11 attacks and near-daily bombings in Israel prove it. They are Muslim fundamentalists who believe it is their duty to convert everyone to Islam, if not willingly, then by the sword, and that if they die in that quest, they will be immediately escorted to Heaven and be given 72 virgins as wives. Contrast that to Judaism and Christianity where the TNK (Tenach) is expected to be followed (or in some Christians' views, the New Testament and disregard the Tenach), and that is a message of peace and conversion by setting an example, not by conquest.
Anyway, if a Muslim terrorist organization is bent on spawning a jihad and winning 72 virgins in the afterlife, what deterrent is narcosis and death? They would welcome it as they see it as their duty and honor. That is why Muslim terrorists sometimes use their children in terrorist bombings; they think they are doing good for their children because they think they are sending their children directly to Allah.
No, five lines servicing nations which the Bush administration is at odds with, in the space of a few days is just too convenient to be coincidence. I think it's one of three things:
1. The Bush administration (or an ally) is attempting to provoke the Muslims to declaring a Jihad, which will likely lead to WWIII and make the administration's friends extremely wealthy and also lead to a power grab domestically because they (the administration) will convince many (if not most) citizens that suspending the constitution is not only legitimate in the time of national defense actions (it's NOT ever justifiable to suspend the constitution) and put martial law into place, effectively indefinitely extending the current presidential term
2. Muslim extremists are trying to spawn a Jihad to fulfill their Koran-mandated mission and convert the world to Islam - especially Jews and friends of Jews (Christians) -- or an enemy of the US, such as Russia or China, are trying to provoke such a war to use the Muslims to break the USA.
3. Sheer, eerie coincidence (unlikely)
Don't rule out SCUBA divers. It may be unlikely but it is not unreasonable or implausible.
. . . or as a distraction while they spend money on security equipment with companies such as Haliburton. If you're a propoganda-believing paranoid you won't be worrying about tax increases and such because you want to "feel safe"
Yes, they already were paid for this and the telcos until recently were STILL collecting "fcc" fees which were intended to be alotted to getting Fiber rolled out to every address in the US. This is why I am tagging this story "simpsonsalreadydidit"
Many IT users are concerned about using Linux since they have become aware of the allegations that Linux is an unauthorized derivative work of the UNIX® operating system. Users have come to SCO asking what they can do to continue to run their businesses. SCO has created the SCOsource business division in response to these needs.
SCOsource is a SCO business division that manages its UNIX® System intellectual property and contractual rights. The charter of this division is to create new and innovative licensing programs to meet the changing demands of today's market and to protect its intellectual property-related assets.
SCO Intellectual Property License Program
To meet customer's needs, SCO has introduced the SCO Intellectual Property (IP) License Program to make binary run time licenses for SCO's intellectual property available to end users. The license gives end users the right to use SCO intellectual property contained in Linux, in binary format only. End users who purchase this license will be covered for their use of SCO's intellectual property in binary format in Linux distributions on the licensed system. The license applies to all commercial users of Linux.
SCO is the owner of the UNIX Operating System Intellectual Property that dates back to 1969, when the UNIX System was created at AT&T's Bell Laboratories. Through a series of mergers and acquisitions, SCO has acquired ownership of the copyrights and core technology associated with the UNIX System.
Please check the links on the right-hand side of this page. They have been especially selected to help you find the information you might be looking for.
Look at his track record: his solution for making health care affordable is to force everyone in MA to buy health insurance, or else get fined. Since then, health insurance premiums have INCREASED.
I for one want one of those flashlights. Certainly not enough to spend $300 on one, but I do want one. Why? Why not? I have a five-cell mag light and it's not bright enough.
With that said, it's obvious but it needs to be pointed out anyhow: if a machine needs to run tasks overnight or if it needs to be externally accessible, shutting the machine down is not an option. You MAY be able to use WOL for some services, but YMMV, batteries not included, etc.
Porsche claims this too and they are notorious for filing IP suits based on trademark infringement, etc.
The workaround? Slap a number on the car. Viola! Instant race car; it becomes YOUR trademark, and does not infringe on theirs.
Do the same with your Ford Rustang (Yes, I am ragging on the Mustang - with this kind of action Ford deserves it. As an aside I actually LIKE the Mustang), your Ford Lightning, or whatever it is you want to include in your own original artwork.
The number need not be intrusive. Just put a small Bill Elliot "94" on your classic Mustang. No more trademark infringement. Or, just digitally add it.
This is done all the time by specialty shops which work on Porsche products.
Soy proteins are not easy to avoid. Soy is often hidden behind the "natural flavors" catchall, and sometimes manufacturers substitute soybean oil for other ingredients without updating the labels. I do my best to avoid it but can't always.:(
When I buy food myself, I check the ingredients. When I eat out, I eat only foods I can reasonably assured are soy-free.
BUT: why should ice cream substitute soybean oil for milk fat? Yeah, soy is cheap AND it enhances appetite by blocking electrolyte absorbtion (one reason manufacturers LOVE to add soybean oil, MSG, etc. to foods) but for improving the texture and taste of ice cream, what can possibly be better than high quality milkfat? Then, the only allergen present will be dairy, and it's known to be present in ice cream -- well, real ice cream anyhow. Why mess with it?
It doesn't look fine to me. The soybean oil and soybean-derived mono- and diglycerides put me in bed for 2-3 days when I eat it. What's worse is that manufacturers have been lobbying the FDA to not have to itemize ingredients, particularly soy-derived ingredients.
""Microsoft has patented a frustration-detection help system that would monitor your computer use and biometrics to figure out when you were frustrated."
They patented a utility which detects when Windows is running? I thought they already did this courtesy Activation and Genuine Disadvantage?;)
I finally tried an iPhone and I have to say while I'm extremely impressed, at $599 I'd expect to be able to unlock it and use it with any provider (my provider is Cingular, but it's the principle of the thing), I'd expect to be able to install third-party apps, and I'd expect 3G. Also, I'd expect it to provide GPS functionality since new phones include GPS receivers.
When I upgraded my phone, I went with the Samsung Sync. Although it lacks availability of 3rd party apps, I bought it for the short term - it has instant messenger clients (YIM, AIM, and MSN). 3G access, and surprisingly, is not locked. I bought it expecting to buy an OpenMoko phone by now (it's still vaporware) but the screen size is inferior to the iPhone.
APPLE: stop locking the phones, stop breaking third-party apps, and open the platform up. It may be a success, but you could be selling a hell of a lot more units were you to open it up. Much like your hold on OS X, you have an opportunity to OWN the market, taking it away from the leaders, and you're dropping the ball on it. Such a shame, because the iPhone is otherwise an amazing device.
What I love about the iPhone:
- The interface is nice
- The browser is AMAZING (it's the full-blown Safari/konqueror/khtml browser!)
- Screen clarity is fantastic
- ipod functionality is excellent, and the speaker has a decent volume.
- WiFi capability
- It's a nice-looking device
- The sound quality is great
What I dislike about the iPhone:
- The DRM. It's locked and they break third-party apps. Sure one can work around that but at $599 one shouldn't have to
- The lack of instant message clients. To run IM clients you have to fire up safari and use the web-based clients.
- No 3G. What the heck are you thinking?! Even "free" phones often include 3G now!
- I think the touch screen may be a safety issue when placing a call on the road. I can dial my sync by feel without taking my eyes off the road. Not possible with a touch screen.
- No [micro|mini|.*]SD slot
- proprietary connector, not USB (although that's also true of my Sync)
- Non-user-replaceable battery
Slashdot Mirror
Oh -- and when driving, how often are you blinded by the glare of street-side spot or flood lights, and your night vision trashed? I'm talking about ground-level floodlights and flood lights shining directly into oncoming traffic (usually those lights are for signs or flagpoles or decorative landscape or hardscape), or parking lots where the lights are aimed parallel to traffic? Those are wasteful, they are polluting the night sky with excessive light, and they are also safety concerns.
Yes it is a matter of safety, but take a look at the variety of fixtures available. In some towns there is widespread use of street light fixtures where there is NO horizontal face in the light's bezel; it's all down-facing, directing the light to the ground. There is some reflection from the ground to the sky of course (that is unavoidable) but in those areas the sky is much darker than it is in towns where conventional street lamps with the convex half-globes are used, with a lot of horizontal and even upward light emission.
Likewise for home lighting - why should any light be visible from ABOVE the lamp's install location? The light should be directed to the ground where it is needed, not up into the sky, not lighting the trees, and so forth. All it does is crap up the sky so we don't even know what the milky way looks like any more. Where I grew up I thought the sky was dark (it was probably somewhere between Class 4 and class 3, but then I've read about class 2 and class 1 sky and that the milky way is actually quite visible - not just as a faint lighted haze but with definite features, similar to what one sees in time-lapse photography. It's really sad that we never get to see those features. I'd rather look up and see the gorgeous galaxy we live in than to see an orangy glow at night.
How is sky 'darkness' rated?
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2007/08/20/070820fa_fact_owen
http://x.astrogeek.org/articles/article.php?article_id=1
How should light pollution be controlled?
http://www.darksky.org/mc/page.do?sitePageId=58881
One of my friends who works for Comcast tells me Comcast at large is terrified of FIOS because they are rapidly losing their local television monopolies and FIOS is simply a better product when it comes to bandwidth delivery.
I use Bittorrent a couple of times a month to download Linux distributions, and also use it to download things like Autopatcher (I know, the torrents are out of date and I need to look into building it myself but ANYHOW. . . ) -- you know, legitimate traffic. I don't even bother with downloading television episodes any more.
Yeah, but, does it run Linux?
Seriously though, I fail to see why Linux is not good for the desktop. The whole beauty of Linux is it can be tailored specifically for a purpose; that is why it is so prevalent in headless embedded devices such as routers, multi-display devices such as cellphones, massive servers, supercomputers, gaming devices, PDAs, and desktop and laptop computers. The kernel can be tuned for a particular task or platform, it can be configured to be realtime or not, and the scheduler can be adjusted.
Out of the box, most distros' settings are great for the desktop and for light-duty servers. I do not agree with the implication that Linux is not ideally suited to the desktop. They are constructing a strawman to pick apart when really they should just come out with the truth: they like BeOS (it's interesting. I do not like it, it reminds me of Mac OS Classic, but it is interesting) and they want to promote it, and that they do not intend for it to be used on server or embedded devices so they will not be providing that capability. It's a more honest approach to simply state that than to imply Linux is not up to par for the desktop.
Ease of use is what makes me really love Linux.
.rc files? I liked FVWM over the alternatives and considering the state of Linux at the time my desktop was pretty slick, but it was by no means easy to use. I learned a heck of a lot on that system. When Gnome came out I ran gnome, on Redhat (and later Caldera Linux - don't laugh, at the time Caldera Linux was pretty good, and Caldera had not morphed into SCO and become spawn of Satan yet) - and thought KDE sucked wind (at the time it did).
Note I did not say ease of configuration: I have run Linux off and on since it had to be installed from a 7-floppy image, and that was back in 1992 or 1992, downloading them using kermit (OUCH!) over a 1200 baud modem. It was HARD to use then - hardware support was lacking, etc.
When the slackware CD distribution came out I ran that - I could get a very basic desktop running, but 8-bit only. By that time VLB was all the rage. and I had the infamous Diamond Stealth 32 VLB card. The ET4000 server would not run with this card because of some proprietary extensions to it, so I learned enough x86 assembly (I had come over to the PC from the C= and Amiga computers and programmed assembly on those) to write a utility which would probe the card's registers with various values, respond to keystrokes, and log the results. I finally figured out what needed to be set and I patched the X server to work - and had 24-bit color in X! I should have submitted that code and utility to the project but at the time I didn't know I could contribute to OSS projects.
Anyway, it was a pain in the ass to configure. Once it was configured, it was a pain in the ass to use. I had to view images from the command line? Launch GUI programs from the command line? If I wanted a menu, I had to edit a slew of poorly-documented
Then, I went from a job which was 100% windows to one that was 150% windows - as in I worked in Windows at work for about 50-60 hours a week, then I had to do more work at home, on Windows (yes, I was a sucker working unpaid overtime for a dot-com, and got NOTHING from my stock options!). I had to dump Linux - but on the bright side my hardware worked! Well, I was on SMP systems (at home!) by then, so everything worked, well, except my Soundblaster Live! card because of the race condition Creative folks FINALLY admitted to only a few years ago when multi-core chips hit the market and SMP became mainstream.
Well, between then and 2005, Linux went and growed up big and strong - I guess Tux drank milk or took steroids or something. Bleeding-edge chipsets still didn't work well, USB was a little flaky, SATA was weak, but less-than-bleeding-edge hardware worked better, more reliably than Windows. On top of that, KDE was usable. No, not just usable - damn good. The best desktop environment I've ever used - and this includes both CDE (hated it, but it was easy to use!) and SGI's Indigo Magic (loved it! At the time, mid-90s, it was fantastic).
I dual booted Windows for a while. I used Windows about half the time, and Linux half the time. Then, KDE was updated (to 3.1 I think) - what a difference. On a dual Celeron with 1GB RAM, compared to Windows XP, performance was excellent. It was fast and responsive. I could open a SINGLE file browser and have multiple Windows - File Manager-like split views, Explorer-like tabbed views, multiple tree controls, PLUS I could seamlessly access FTP, SMB/CIFS, and SSH/Fish shares and drag and drop between them all! Not only that, with the customizable views, thumbnail views which were USABLE, and the various application preview plugins, Linux became more user-friendly than the Macintosh, more capable out of the box than Windows, and was actually supporting hardware pretty well.
Then, SuSE upgraded to the 2.6 kernel. This made all the difference in the world. Not only was the desktop more capable and easy to use than Windows, OS X, or $foo, most current hardware out of the box worked - better than Windows. USB became more reliable than Windows,
RIAA = slashdot.org?
I liked you before, but now that I know you are a Futurama fan, I adore you! :-D
Seriously though that was pretty funny, although wasn't it Omicron Persei 8?
Signed,
purple haired feak (yeah my hair is purple now, as homage to my favorite TV show!)
Having those cables cut (and I use the term generically in this case, not in reference to a deliberate act) is relatively uncommon compared to what we've seen in the last few days. Five major lines cut in the last few days, in the Middle East, specifically disrupting states our current administration dislikes, is just too convenient to be coincidence.
Sure, if it were scuba divers, one would be at danger of narcosis and other scary stuff but think about it. if Muslim extremists want to provoke a Jihad, they do not worry about dying - they welcome it, and the 9/11 attacks and near-daily bombings in Israel prove it. They are Muslim fundamentalists who believe it is their duty to convert everyone to Islam, if not willingly, then by the sword, and that if they die in that quest, they will be immediately escorted to Heaven and be given 72 virgins as wives. Contrast that to Judaism and Christianity where the TNK (Tenach) is expected to be followed (or in some Christians' views, the New Testament and disregard the Tenach), and that is a message of peace and conversion by setting an example, not by conquest.
Anyway, if a Muslim terrorist organization is bent on spawning a jihad and winning 72 virgins in the afterlife, what deterrent is narcosis and death? They would welcome it as they see it as their duty and honor. That is why Muslim terrorists sometimes use their children in terrorist bombings; they think they are doing good for their children because they think they are sending their children directly to Allah.
No, five lines servicing nations which the Bush administration is at odds with, in the space of a few days is just too convenient to be coincidence. I think it's one of three things:
1. The Bush administration (or an ally) is attempting to provoke the Muslims to declaring a Jihad, which will likely lead to WWIII and make the administration's friends extremely wealthy and also lead to a power grab domestically because they (the administration) will convince many (if not most) citizens that suspending the constitution is not only legitimate in the time of national defense actions (it's NOT ever justifiable to suspend the constitution) and put martial law into place, effectively indefinitely extending the current presidential term
2. Muslim extremists are trying to spawn a Jihad to fulfill their Koran-mandated mission and convert the world to Islam - especially Jews and friends of Jews (Christians) -- or an enemy of the US, such as Russia or China, are trying to provoke such a war to use the Muslims to break the USA.
3. Sheer, eerie coincidence (unlikely)
Don't rule out SCUBA divers. It may be unlikely but it is not unreasonable or implausible.
re: how many strikes have you seen that lasted one whole year?
One for more than ten - on paper, anyhow:
http://www.rihs.org/mssinv/Mss1042.htm
. . . or as a distraction while they spend money on security equipment with companies such as Haliburton. If you're a propoganda-believing paranoid you won't be worrying about tax increases and such because you want to "feel safe"
Yes, they already were paid for this and the telcos until recently were STILL collecting "fcc" fees which were intended to be alotted to getting Fiber rolled out to every address in the US. This is why I am tagging this story "simpsonsalreadydidit"
http://www.sco.com/scosource/
Look at his track record: his solution for making health care affordable is to force everyone in MA to buy health insurance, or else get fined. Since then, health insurance premiums have INCREASED.
Thanks, Mitt!
By that token, what is the point of the high-power laser pointer?
I for one want one of those flashlights. Certainly not enough to spend $300 on one, but I do want one. Why? Why not? I have a five-cell mag light and it's not bright enough.
FORK IT!!
Thank God for the GPL!
Windows:
/every:m,t,w,th,f shutdown -t 0
/etc/crontab
at 20:00
*nix, in
00 20 * * * root shutdown -h now
With that said, it's obvious but it needs to be pointed out anyhow: if a machine needs to run tasks overnight or if it needs to be externally accessible, shutting the machine down is not an option. You MAY be able to use WOL for some services, but YMMV, batteries not included, etc.
re: So who's the nerd now, huh?
;)
You are, for correcting Aphex Junkie?
Porsche claims this too and they are notorious for filing IP suits based on trademark infringement, etc.
The workaround? Slap a number on the car. Viola! Instant race car; it becomes YOUR trademark, and does not infringe on theirs.
Do the same with your Ford Rustang (Yes, I am ragging on the Mustang - with this kind of action Ford deserves it. As an aside I actually LIKE the Mustang), your Ford Lightning, or whatever it is you want to include in your own original artwork.
The number need not be intrusive. Just put a small Bill Elliot "94" on your classic Mustang. No more trademark infringement. Or, just digitally add it.
This is done all the time by specialty shops which work on Porsche products.
Note to Ford: Take a hike.
Soy proteins are not easy to avoid. Soy is often hidden behind the "natural flavors" catchall, and sometimes manufacturers substitute soybean oil for other ingredients without updating the labels. I do my best to avoid it but can't always. :(
When I buy food myself, I check the ingredients. When I eat out, I eat only foods I can reasonably assured are soy-free.
BUT: why should ice cream substitute soybean oil for milk fat? Yeah, soy is cheap AND it enhances appetite by blocking electrolyte absorbtion (one reason manufacturers LOVE to add soybean oil, MSG, etc. to foods) but for improving the texture and taste of ice cream, what can possibly be better than high quality milkfat? Then, the only allergen present will be dairy, and it's known to be present in ice cream -- well, real ice cream anyhow. Why mess with it?
It doesn't look fine to me. The soybean oil and soybean-derived mono- and diglycerides put me in bed for 2-3 days when I eat it. What's worse is that manufacturers have been lobbying the FDA to not have to itemize ingredients, particularly soy-derived ingredients.
Bring back real ice cream, please!
http://www.artlebedev.com/everything/optimus/
Check it out. They even show right on the web site the profiles for Adobe CS programs.
Also, check out the demo page:
http://www.artlebedev.com/everything/optimus/demo/
The images can and do change on the fly as needed.
Apple is attempting to patent prior art.
""Microsoft has patented a frustration-detection help system that would monitor your computer use and biometrics to figure out when you were frustrated."
;)
They patented a utility which detects when Windows is running? I thought they already did this courtesy Activation and Genuine Disadvantage?
sorry, I wasn't aware they dropped the price. However, given that it WAS $599 why should I take your snarky comment seriously? :-p
I finally tried an iPhone and I have to say while I'm extremely impressed, at $599 I'd expect to be able to unlock it and use it with any provider (my provider is Cingular, but it's the principle of the thing), I'd expect to be able to install third-party apps, and I'd expect 3G. Also, I'd expect it to provide GPS functionality since new phones include GPS receivers.
When I upgraded my phone, I went with the Samsung Sync. Although it lacks availability of 3rd party apps, I bought it for the short term - it has instant messenger clients (YIM, AIM, and MSN). 3G access, and surprisingly, is not locked. I bought it expecting to buy an OpenMoko phone by now (it's still vaporware) but the screen size is inferior to the iPhone.
APPLE: stop locking the phones, stop breaking third-party apps, and open the platform up. It may be a success, but you could be selling a hell of a lot more units were you to open it up. Much like your hold on OS X, you have an opportunity to OWN the market, taking it away from the leaders, and you're dropping the ball on it. Such a shame, because the iPhone is otherwise an amazing device.
What I love about the iPhone:
- The interface is nice
- The browser is AMAZING (it's the full-blown Safari/konqueror/khtml browser!)
- Screen clarity is fantastic
- ipod functionality is excellent, and the speaker has a decent volume.
- WiFi capability
- It's a nice-looking device
- The sound quality is great
What I dislike about the iPhone:
- The DRM. It's locked and they break third-party apps. Sure one can work around that but at $599 one shouldn't have to
- The lack of instant message clients. To run IM clients you have to fire up safari and use the web-based clients.
- No 3G. What the heck are you thinking?! Even "free" phones often include 3G now!
- I think the touch screen may be a safety issue when placing a call on the road. I can dial my sync by feel without taking my eyes off the road. Not possible with a touch screen.
- No [micro|mini|.*]SD slot
- proprietary connector, not USB (although that's also true of my Sync)
- Non-user-replaceable battery
TSA and homeland security have nothing to do with security, safety, or reality, but social engineering.