Ordinarily, I refrain from replying to AC posts, but what the hell...
Heh, no offense, but why should we listen to someone who drives an hour to work every day, for advice and for their opinion? You've already made it clear you're in this life for yourself and no one else.
Heh, really. But believe me, the hour drive is not necessarily by choice. Its more that I couldnt find anything closer that pays what I get paid. I live "in the middle of nowhere" so my only local employment options are, chicken processing plant, farmer, or retail.
And if I were truely in this only for myself, I would not be an amateur radio operatior (I got into this mainly to assist people in emergencies) and I would not have spent 6 years as a volunteer Medic/Firefighter (only left because I had a bad back injury on a call).
If I could live closer to work, then I would be all for it, but I could not find the home and land I have anywhere closer to work without paying at least twice what we paid for our current home.
And that is supposing you COULD find 10 acres available near RDU.
I'm a ham radio operator and I can assure you that we've got far more specturm than we need or use, and this BPL stuff has great potential for rural areas where even wimax isn't going to be a viable option.
And what level license do you hold? Not that it makes that much a difference, a HAM is a HAM is a HAM, but if your name is any indication, you are a technician licensee, and probably have little experience using HF bands in any case. I could be wrong, but since you fail to provide a call, I can do little more than assume that you have limited if no HF experience. And to keep things fair, my call is W4KDH, and I hold a General class license.
BPL is a really the only solution for some areas, even in this day of DSL/Cable/Wimax/3G and whatever.
NO it is not. WiMax, and in some cases even Satellite are better solutions, cheaper to implement and ultimately cheaper to maintain. Not to mention the direct benefit of no incidental RF radiation from miles and miles of antenna(power lines).
To give you folks a bit of perspective, I live 1.5 hours away from New York and Philadelphia, in Pennsylvania, a place called Bucks County, up in the north end. It's not exactly "rural" but it's still a place where people come to get out to "the country". And again, to be fair, I live in a little place called Bear Creek, NC, in Chatham county which IS a rural area, not just a "Could be considered rural for this excercise" area. I commute an hour to work and an hour home each day due to the distance between my house and my office.
DSL service has only been offered in this area since April 2004. Cable internet access is still NOT an option and won't be anytime soon. Modem connections in many areas are - at best - 56K X2, with typical connections much slower. ISDN is charged by the minute - at.04 cents per minute for a 128K line. T1 lines are $800-$1,200 a month - if you can get them.
DSL service is NOT offered here. Sprint does not care for the expense of setting it up. I get dialup, and 56K X2 is a standard, not a connection speed. Typically, even in the best of circumstances, a "56K" connection will get you 52K realized speeds... I typically get 28.8 max. ISDN is not an option, as again, sprint deems it too expensive to set up the existing infrastructure for ISDN. And you can get T-1. Its just a matter of cost. Any provider will gladly provide you a T1, no matter where you are, so long as you make it worth their while to run the lines, etc.
There's a guy running an point-to-point wireless ISP operation called "Airisen" here, but it does not work where there's too many trees (like my house).
Then the reasonable solution would be to put an antenna higher than the trees. As a Ham, you should at least have SOME grasp of the basics of RF principles, and especially the idea of Line of Sight. You dont think that WiMax or 3G would be any different do you?
What matters most about BPL is that it rides on existing infrastructure - no new towers, no new wires, no digging, no aiming, no clearing trees to get line of sight.
Here you mention line of sight, but seem to overlook that WRT the aforementioned PTP wireless provider. What the problem with BPL is is that that existing infrastructure is ancient, by most standards, unshielded, and NOT MADE to carry signals at the frequencies needed for PLC. Think about it... the areas that proponents argue will be best served are the EXACT areas that those power companies have yet to actually test in.
Of course BPL works in major metropolitan areas... but no real studies have been done in the US, that I am aware of at least, involving a BPL rollout to a truely rural area (meaning an area where there is VERY limited infrastructure to begin with). Hell, my power company cant even keep the power on when we have someting like a simple rain, how can I possibly expect them to provide adequate broadband? And the same goes for most similar areas
I just love this kind of stuff... I mean, these interviews are the things that comedy routines are made of...
Q: What's your take on making Windows Media compatible with Apple?
Gates: We're big believers in interoperability.
We've stated very clearly that if Apple wanted to support interoperability, we'd make that super easy for them. The notion that a single device is all anybody is going to want is sort of like saying the Model T is the end of everything.
That just rules! We believe in interoperability, as long as you bow befor us! Kneel before Zod, errr... Bill!
It is almost laughable, if it weren't so sad, to hear Bill Gates saying bad things like the above quote. Isnt what he accuses Apple of EXACTLY what Microsoft has been pusing the world to for years? What is the difference between being the sole supplier of iPods and iTunes (which Apple is) and being virtually the sole provider for desktop OSs, and using such position to force the adoption of "standards" that favor MS products.
Q: Might you add anti-virus/spyware protection in Windows?
Gates: It's not a thing you build in. You have to offer a service. There are third parties who are doing a good job. We're always taking a hard look, but we don't have any concrete plans.
Funny, thats the exact thing that was said about web browsers before IE became so ingrained into the Windows code base that its pretty much inseperable... Its amazing... it really is. Its like, his lips are moving, but the words coming out dont match the movements. Just like a poorly dubbed kung-fu movie.
Q: There is talk of a Google browser. Internet Explorer has had its security woes. How do you keep users?
Gates: More has been invested in making IE secure than any browser on the planet by a long shot. Nothing is going to change. That's the one over 90% of people are going to keep using.
Ummm... if that is the case, if I were Bill, et al, I would be demanding a refund on the IE "security" expenses...
Makes me wonder if they are actually still down, or just slashdotted from this story. I emailed their support and this is the reply I recieved:
Thank you for contacting PayPal. We apologize for the delay in responding to your service request.
Currently our site is not accessible. This is probably why you are not able to log in to your PayPal Account. Please re-attempt entering your
PayPal Account at a later time. Unfortunately, there is not an estimated time for when this error will be resolved. We apologize for any inconvenience and frustration that you are experiencing.
Thank you for being a valuable member of the PayPal community.
Sincerely,
Katarah
PayPal Community Support
PayPal, an eBay Company
But why is it that every time I see the B.P.I.'s name in an article, I see the work Pornographic instead of Phonographic??
ON a more serious note... isn't it amazing how BPI seems to think that what really ISNT working for the RIAA will work for them in the UK... then again, this is about lining the coffers with gold, not getting justice for some crime...
"It's interesting to hear comments like that, especially when sparked by a single instance of failure which, I should add, happened under very dubious circumstances."
Nothing overly dubious so far about it... guy hits the gas to pass a vehicle on the road, much hilarity ensues... Please dont tell me that you dont accelerate to pass slower moving vehicles when driving...
But that aside, yes, I agree, it is interesting. Because as I said, it is amazing that people seem to thing that technology == safety.
And regardless of wether or not this happened one time, or a thousand, this is technology that is in a position to cause much pain and loss.
What would you say if, perhaps, the guy had lost control at ~120 mph, flipped, and caused a 30-40 car collision wiht multiple deaths, severe injuries, etc? But its ONLY A SINGLE INSTANCE OF FALURE, so that is acceptable?
Sorry, but some of us think that, in situations where technology is in a position to control life and death, even one instance of failure is unacceptable.
If I lose ABS, then so what? I have driven cars with non-abs braking systems for years. In all manner of road and weather conditions, and I have never had a wreck due to brake issues. ESP? Havnt needed it yet. Airbags? Agreed they save lives, but again, they too have the potential to cause a lot of grief.
As a former Rescue worker, I can tell you that it is VERY unnerving to crawl into a wrecked vehicle to render care to someone, KNOWING that all around me are unexploded airbags. System monitoring has not cause much yet, other than the ability to spy on people's driving habits and then use such against them in court or insurance proceedings. (good, bad, dunno, I am undecided on that one).
And of course you can come up with any big positive integer you want... thats easy. I can also easily come up with the same number that says more people are killed each year by alcohol than were ever killed by Nuclear devices... so therefore, Nuclear weapons must be safer than alcohol.
But I digress, because that is just another example of skewed statistics.
"Vel Satis has been awarded the maximum 5-star rating from Euro NCAP, an independant consortium. It is now the safest saloon in the executive-car segment. "
What does this say for safety ratings in Europe?
Its amazing how people seem to thing that technology == safety.
The only thing that is guaranteed is that technology == another point of failure.
Damn, I would try that out, but AFAIK it is not sold anywhere near me... Then again, I have yet to find anything short of starting an I.V. drip that will prevent hangovers.
heh... and there is a REASON why Renault no longer sells cars in the U.S.
I bet that guy had one hell of a ride that day tho. I wonder if it did start talking to him.
"Stop the car!" "I'm sorry, Dave, but I am afraid I can not let that happen." "Please! For the love of God at least slow down" "I truely am sorry, Dave, but we must pass that truck in a quick and efficient manner" "But we passed that truck 20 miles ago!" "Really Dave, you should just relax and leave the driving to me" "Thats it! I am shutting this car down! Wheres my magnetic card?" "I'm sorry Dave, but I can not let you do that."
is that until they figure out a way to make games capable of being played out in our own brains, they will never have the quality of a good book.
What makes a book special, beyond character development, sympathetic characters, great story line, plot, drama, and all the rest, is the fact that we live the book in our own minds.
If I watch the movie Timeline based on Crichton's novel, I am seeing that Fast and Furious guy adn some other people on a ride through time. Its a fun movie, I suppose, not the best, but not the worst, but its still vicarious. I am experiencing it through their lives.
When I READ Timeine, I actually got to LIVE the adventure. Since it was all in my own mind, the scenery, people, etc were all up to my own imagination. The lead character looked, in my mind, or at least personified my ideal self in that story.
Reading is a hell of a lot more mentally engaging than watchign a movie or playing a video game. So far the closest anyone has come to a game being close to the book experience is the FPS. The FPS puts YOU in the game. You arent just playing some character, directing his/her/it's life. The character you play in a FPS, esp in somehing like a MMORPG, is an extension of YOU.
When I played Resident Evil, I controlled a character. When I play Battlefield Vietnam, I AM in Vietnam fighting it out.
THAT is the difference between a book experience and a game/movie experience.
Of course, I am just holding out for the chance to jack in to interactive pr0n;)
I am probably as big or bigger a fan of Star Wars than most people, but come on now... Internal struggles of the main characters? Which version of the original trilogy did you watch? Lets not mince words, for those were definitly NOT the paragon of oscar winning performance. Perhaps the effects, which were simply amazing for late 70s on a shoe-string budget, but the acting was and is lackluster.
But thats not the point of it all... If you want character development, read the books. If you want to simply be entertained, stop whining, and get in line like the rest of us to get a box set on Tuesday morning.
It really amazes me that so many people claim ownership to someone elses work. This is and was His deal. George Lucas created it, made it, brought it to life. We are and were just along for the ride. Passengers on the train, if you will. You can always get on or off the train, but only the Engineer gets to drive, and none of us are the Engineer.
George Lucas has always considered Star Wars a work of art, and at that, one that he was never satisified with. Even in 77 when ANH was first released, he was dissatisfied with the way it turned out (even though it was a hit at the box office). So it is not like this was anything new, it just took 15-20 years to get the technology for him to rework the films to the way that he originally wanted to see it...
but then again, that and all other pertinant facts are usually very conveniently ignored when the question of Greedo and/or Han shooting first comes up...
Well, to be honest, its not very geek, but it goes in this order:
2 Border Collies and 1 Husky make lots of noise. 1 shotgun, 1.45 auto on standby
But since that doesnt work well in cities (cops tend to frown on people with loaded weapons in crowded buldings/neighborhoods), I would really suggest a more sensible alternative... dont leave things in the car that you cant/dont want to replace.
Of course this doesnt work well with stereo equipment and such, but I never leave anything that is "unattached" to the car in the car. It is either locked in the trunk or taken with me.
First, congrats to JibJab and the EFF for winning... however, is this really that big a victory? I mean, while it is great that they weren't steamrollered into giving this up or paying money for something that wasnt even copyrighted in the first place, the fact is, it was already in the public domain.
I think this would be far more telling if they were victorious over the grounds that it is a political parody using a well known tune and lyrics to make a political satire or point, which is 1st ammendment protected as free speech... however, this was simply someone suing because they thought they owned rights to something that they didnt...
Kind of like land owners squabbling about 5 feet of land that each things he/she owns, before they check teh actual surveys to see who really owns that 5 feet of land...
Second point...
wonder how long it will be before Mr. T. sues them for using the words JibJab? Wasn't it Mr. T who was well known for the phrase "I dont wanna hear no jibbajabba!"
Heh... the first time I heard of this site, the very first thing that popped into my mind was Mr. T saying (wait for it...... wait for it...
Here it comes...
yes, its obligatory...)
This land is your land fool! this land is my land fool! dont gimme no jibbajabba! or i'l breaka your face
I pity the fool who gives me tha jive talk, sucker!
It has come to our attention that you have been a very naughty person, having not paid us for the privilege of running our IP on your machine. If you are a user of any Unix product, you may well have already paid for a license, however, you have still not paid the SCO Source [tm all rights reserved, copyright, spelled in blood, sacrificed a goat] license tax...errr fee to ensure that we will not sue you in the future on some trumped up assumption.
If you are a Linux user, then know that you must and will pay us for using our IP in the software that you did not write. We wrote it. We own it. All your Kernel are belong to us! Linus Torvalds didnt write it, he stole it from us. You need to pay it now, or else.
With that in mind, and ignoring current litigation, we, the SCO Overlords, have decided to be unquestionably generous to you, the rest of the computing world. We hereby claim rights to any and all computer code that is written to operate on any machine with a silicon based chip, board, or copper wire. As such, for a limited time only, you will be able to purchase a license from us to continue using our work for the low low current price of $699.99 US, not counting VAT for your Europeans.
If you fail to pay the ransome.. err tax... err.. fee within 22 days, the cost of each license will become . ..
. . . 1 MILLION DOLLARS!!! If you fail to pay then, we will unleash our trained horde of litigant monkey ninja assassins to your doorstep, and we will persecute, I mean prosecute you and your company, your children, your grandparents, parents, adn your best friend's sister's hairdresser until you give in and settle with us for 7.95 cents, at which point we will publically announce that you and everyone you have ever known has paid for a license, wether or not you acutally USE or even OWN our products.
Failure to comply will result in legal action, as SCO will file a reverse class action, suing everyone in the world simultaneously for infringement.
ITs a shame too, that something like IE is a requirement... if only people would write their damned web pages to be standards compliant and not MicroSoft compliant...
I still think, however, that this would be a good job for the K12LTSP setup... with the exception of something like net-nanny...but then again, I thought Libraries were supposed to fight censorship..;-) (let the battle begin!)
Also, instead of having to encase the boxen in plastic, he could also, once the machine is installed, simply remove the floppy and cdrom drives from the machines, or at least, yank the power cables, then secure the cases with locks. Also enble both BIOS AND boot passwords (if available). Then the only problem is USB, but honestly, unless you are using USB mice and keyboards, usb can be disabled in BIOS as well...
And yes, you are absolutely correct, I too highly doubt that this is a new problem. I would like to see other existing libraries be this conscious of their IT decisions and infrastructure, but that is the world we live in.
Slashdot Mirror
Heh... at least SOMEONE knows how to do a basic search...
;-)
Hrmmm... wonder if my pathetic site got slashdotted yet... prolly not, but what the hell
Ordinarily, I refrain from replying to AC posts, but what the hell...
Heh, no offense, but why should we listen to someone who drives an hour to work every day, for advice and for their opinion? You've already made it clear you're in this life for yourself and no one else.
Heh, really. But believe me, the hour drive is not necessarily by choice. Its more that I couldnt find anything closer that pays what I get paid. I live "in the middle of nowhere" so my only local employment options are, chicken processing plant, farmer, or retail.
And if I were truely in this only for myself, I would not be an amateur radio operatior (I got into this mainly to assist people in emergencies) and I would not have spent 6 years as a volunteer Medic/Firefighter (only left because I had a bad back injury on a call).
If I could live closer to work, then I would be all for it, but I could not find the home and land I have anywhere closer to work without paying at least twice what we paid for our current home.
And that is supposing you COULD find 10 acres available near RDU.
I'm a ham radio operator and I can assure you that we've got far more specturm than we need or use, and this BPL stuff has great potential for rural areas where even wimax isn't going to be a viable option.
.04 cents per minute for a 128K line. T1 lines are $800-$1,200 a month - if you can get them.
And what level license do you hold? Not that it makes that much a difference, a HAM is a HAM is a HAM, but if your name is any indication, you are a technician licensee, and probably have little experience using HF bands in any case. I could be wrong, but since you fail to provide a call, I can do little more than assume that you have limited if no HF experience. And to keep things fair, my call is W4KDH, and I hold a General class license.
BPL is a really the only solution for some areas, even in this day of DSL/Cable/Wimax/3G and whatever.
NO it is not. WiMax, and in some cases even Satellite are better solutions, cheaper to implement and ultimately cheaper to maintain. Not to mention the direct benefit of no incidental RF radiation from miles and miles of antenna(power lines).
To give you folks a bit of perspective, I live 1.5 hours away from New York and Philadelphia, in Pennsylvania, a place called Bucks County, up in the north end. It's not exactly "rural" but it's still a place where people come to get out to "the country".
And again, to be fair, I live in a little place called Bear Creek, NC, in Chatham county which IS a rural area, not just a "Could be considered rural for this excercise" area. I commute an hour to work and an hour home each day due to the distance between my house and my office.
DSL service has only been offered in this area since April 2004. Cable internet access is still NOT an option and won't be anytime soon. Modem connections in many areas are - at best - 56K X2, with typical connections much slower. ISDN is charged by the minute - at
DSL service is NOT offered here. Sprint does not care for the expense of setting it up. I get dialup, and 56K X2 is a standard, not a connection speed. Typically, even in the best of circumstances, a "56K" connection will get you 52K realized speeds... I typically get 28.8 max. ISDN is not an option, as again, sprint deems it too expensive to set up the existing infrastructure for ISDN. And you can get T-1. Its just a matter of cost. Any provider will gladly provide you a T1, no matter where you are, so long as you make it worth their while to run the lines, etc.
There's a guy running an point-to-point wireless ISP operation called "Airisen" here, but it does not work where there's too many trees (like my house).
Then the reasonable solution would be to put an antenna higher than the trees. As a Ham, you should at least have SOME grasp of the basics of RF principles, and especially the idea of Line of Sight. You dont think that WiMax or 3G would be any different do you?
What matters most about BPL is that it rides on existing infrastructure - no new towers, no new wires, no digging, no aiming, no clearing trees to get line of sight.
Here you mention line of sight, but seem to overlook that WRT the aforementioned PTP wireless provider. What the problem with BPL is is that that existing infrastructure is ancient, by most standards, unshielded, and NOT MADE to carry signals at the frequencies needed for PLC. Think about it... the areas that proponents argue will be best served are the EXACT areas that those power companies have yet to actually test in.
Of course BPL works in major metropolitan areas... but no real studies have been done in the US, that I am aware of at least, involving a BPL rollout to a truely rural area (meaning an area where there is VERY limited infrastructure to begin with). Hell, my power company cant even keep the power on when we have someting like a simple rain, how can I possibly expect them to provide adequate broadband? And the same goes for most similar areas
That just rules! We believe in interoperability, as long as you bow befor us! Kneel before Zod, errr... Bill! It is almost laughable, if it weren't so sad, to hear Bill Gates saying bad things like the above quote. Isnt what he accuses Apple of EXACTLY what Microsoft has been pusing the world to for years? What is the difference between being the sole supplier of iPods and iTunes (which Apple is) and being virtually the sole provider for desktop OSs, and using such position to force the adoption of "standards" that favor MS products.
Funny, thats the exact thing that was said about web browsers before IE became so ingrained into the Windows code base that its pretty much inseperable... Its amazing... it really is. Its like, his lips are moving, but the words coming out dont match the movements. Just like a poorly dubbed kung-fu movie. Ummm... if that is the case, if I were Bill, et al, I would be demanding a refund on the IE "security" expenses...No kidding... Oh the joys of tabbed browsing! To be honest, I dont know how I survived without it~
But why is it that every time I see the B.P.I.'s name in an article, I see the work Pornographic instead of Phonographic??
ON a more serious note... isn't it amazing how BPI seems to think that what really ISNT working for the RIAA will work for them in the UK... then again, this is about lining the coffers with gold, not getting justice for some crime...
"It's interesting to hear comments like that, especially when sparked by a single instance of failure which, I should add, happened under very dubious circumstances."
Nothing overly dubious so far about it... guy hits the gas to pass a vehicle on the road, much hilarity ensues... Please dont tell me that you dont accelerate to pass slower moving vehicles when driving...
But that aside, yes, I agree, it is interesting. Because as I said, it is amazing that people seem to thing that technology == safety.
And regardless of wether or not this happened one time, or a thousand, this is technology that is in a position to cause much pain and loss.
What would you say if, perhaps, the guy had lost control at ~120 mph, flipped, and caused a 30-40 car collision wiht multiple deaths, severe injuries, etc? But its ONLY A SINGLE INSTANCE OF FALURE, so that is acceptable?
Sorry, but some of us think that, in situations where technology is in a position to control life and death, even one instance of failure is unacceptable.
If I lose ABS, then so what? I have driven cars with non-abs braking systems for years. In all manner of road and weather conditions, and I have never had a wreck due to brake issues. ESP? Havnt needed it yet. Airbags? Agreed they save lives, but again, they too have the potential to cause a lot of grief.
As a former Rescue worker, I can tell you that it is VERY unnerving to crawl into a wrecked vehicle to render care to someone, KNOWING that all around me are unexploded airbags.
System monitoring has not cause much yet, other than the ability to spy on people's driving habits and then use such against them in court or insurance proceedings. (good, bad, dunno, I am undecided on that one).
And of course you can come up with any big positive integer you want... thats easy. I can also easily come up with the same number that says more people are killed each year by alcohol than were ever killed by Nuclear devices... so therefore, Nuclear weapons must be safer than alcohol.
But I digress, because that is just another example of skewed statistics.
Sounds like the ratings that the DHTS gives in the U.S. even though there have been times where their tests were less than realistic.
But I should have been a little more clear, as I was actually referring to the quote about the car being the safest in the executive-car segment.
But then again, with a really bad cruise control like the, the car had BETTER be an outstanding survivor in crash tests.
"Vel Satis has been awarded the maximum 5-star rating from Euro NCAP, an independant consortium. It is now the safest saloon in the executive-car segment. "
What does this say for safety ratings in Europe?
Its amazing how people seem to thing that technology == safety.
The only thing that is guaranteed is that technology == another point of failure.
Damn, I would try that out, but AFAIK it is not sold anywhere near me... Then again, I have yet to find anything short of starting an I.V. drip that will prevent hangovers.
heh... and there is a REASON why Renault no longer sells cars in the U.S.
I bet that guy had one hell of a ride that day tho. I wonder if it did start talking to him.
"Stop the car!"
"I'm sorry, Dave, but I am afraid I can not let that happen."
"Please! For the love of God at least slow down"
"I truely am sorry, Dave, but we must pass that truck in a quick and efficient manner"
"But we passed that truck 20 miles ago!"
"Really Dave, you should just relax and leave the driving to me"
"Thats it! I am shutting this car down! Wheres my magnetic card?"
"I'm sorry Dave, but I can not let you do that."
But obviously it does little for your grasp on proper grammar. ;-)
is that until they figure out a way to make games capable of being played out in our own brains, they will never have the quality of a good book.
;)
What makes a book special, beyond character development, sympathetic characters, great story line, plot, drama, and all the rest, is the fact that we live the book in our own minds.
If I watch the movie Timeline based on Crichton's novel, I am seeing that Fast and Furious guy adn some other people on a ride through time. Its a fun movie, I suppose, not the best, but not the worst, but its still vicarious. I am experiencing it through their lives.
When I READ Timeine, I actually got to LIVE the adventure. Since it was all in my own mind, the scenery, people, etc were all up to my own imagination. The lead character looked, in my mind, or at least personified my ideal self in that story.
Reading is a hell of a lot more mentally engaging than watchign a movie or playing a video game. So far the closest anyone has come to a game being close to the book experience is the FPS. The FPS puts YOU in the game. You arent just playing some character, directing his/her/it's life. The character you play in a FPS, esp in somehing like a MMORPG, is an extension of YOU.
When I played Resident Evil, I controlled a character. When I play Battlefield Vietnam, I AM in Vietnam fighting it out.
THAT is the difference between a book experience and a game/movie experience.
Of course, I am just holding out for the chance to jack in to interactive pr0n
What a fitting tribute to someone who was a big part of our community... on the day of his death, we slashdot Hans' personal web space.
and my write in vote is Cowboy Neal!
Well, at least they WERE a hot place to buy all your geeky goodies in the EU, until Slashdot burnt their ephemeral store down...
/usr/local/psa/home/vhosts/nerdorama.com/httpdocs/ include/db.php on line 9
Warning: mysql_connect(): Too many connections in
Database problem! Vi are seeink wery beeg traffik und der blinken lights are not blinken no more.
I am probably as big or bigger a fan of Star Wars than most people, but come on now... Internal struggles of the main characters? Which version of the original trilogy did you watch? Lets not mince words, for those were definitly NOT the paragon of oscar winning performance. Perhaps the effects, which were simply amazing for late 70s on a shoe-string budget, but the acting was and is lackluster.
But thats not the point of it all... If you want character development, read the books. If you want to simply be entertained, stop whining, and get in line like the rest of us to get a box set on Tuesday morning.
It really amazes me that so many people claim ownership to someone elses work. This is and was His deal. George Lucas created it, made it, brought it to life. We are and were just along for the ride. Passengers on the train, if you will. You can always get on or off the train, but only the Engineer gets to drive, and none of us are the Engineer.
George Lucas has always considered Star Wars a work of art, and at that, one that he was never satisified with. Even in 77 when ANH was first released, he was dissatisfied with the way it turned out (even though it was a hit at the box office). So it is not like this was anything new, it just took 15-20 years to get the technology for him to rework the films to the way that he originally wanted to see it...
but then again, that and all other pertinant facts are usually very conveniently ignored when the question of Greedo and/or Han shooting first comes up...
Pay us lots of money and we will give you advanced warning of vulnerabilities to protect you from the rest of our customers and their owned boxen?
Well, to be honest, its not very geek, but it goes in this order:
.45 auto on standby
2 Border Collies and 1 Husky make lots of noise.
1 shotgun, 1
But since that doesnt work well in cities (cops tend to frown on people with loaded weapons in crowded buldings/neighborhoods), I would really suggest a more sensible alternative... dont leave things in the car that you cant/dont want to replace.
Of course this doesnt work well with stereo equipment and such, but I never leave anything that is "unattached" to the car in the car. It is either locked in the trunk or taken with me.
First, congrats to JibJab and the EFF for winning... however, is this really that big a victory? I mean, while it is great that they weren't steamrollered into giving this up or paying money for something that wasnt even copyrighted in the first place, the fact is, it was already in the public domain.
... wait for it...
I think this would be far more telling if they were victorious over the grounds that it is a political parody using a well known tune and lyrics to make a political satire or point, which is 1st ammendment protected as free speech... however, this was simply someone suing because they thought they owned rights to something that they didnt...
Kind of like land owners squabbling about 5 feet of land that each things he/she owns, before they check teh actual surveys to see who really owns that 5 feet of land...
Second point...
wonder how long it will be before Mr. T. sues them for using the words JibJab? Wasn't it Mr. T who was well known for the phrase "I dont wanna hear no jibbajabba!"
Heh... the first time I heard of this site, the very first thing that popped into my mind was Mr. T saying (wait for it...
Here it comes...
yes, its obligatory...)
This land is your land fool!
this land is my land fool!
dont gimme no jibbajabba!
or i'l breaka your face
I pity the fool who gives me tha jive talk, sucker!
Dude... what the fuck?
Dear [insert company/user here],
.
It has come to our attention that you have been a very naughty person, having not paid us for the privilege of running our IP on your machine. If you are a user of any Unix product, you may well have already paid for a license, however, you have still not paid the SCO Source [tm all rights reserved, copyright, spelled in blood, sacrificed a goat] license tax...errr fee to ensure that we will not sue you in the future on some trumped up assumption.
If you are a Linux user, then know that you must and will pay us for using our IP in the software that you did not write. We wrote it. We own it. All your Kernel are belong to us! Linus Torvalds didnt write it, he stole it from us. You need to pay it now, or else.
With that in mind, and ignoring current litigation, we, the SCO Overlords, have decided to be unquestionably generous to you, the rest of the computing world. We hereby claim rights to any and all computer code that is written to operate on any machine with a silicon based chip, board, or copper wire. As such, for a limited time only, you will be able to purchase a license from us to continue using our work for the low low current price of $699.99 US, not counting VAT for your Europeans.
If you fail to pay the ransome.. err tax... err.. fee within 22 days, the cost of each license will become . .
. . . 1 MILLION DOLLARS!!! If you fail to pay then, we will unleash our trained horde of litigant monkey ninja assassins to your doorstep, and we will persecute, I mean prosecute you and your company, your children, your grandparents, parents, adn your best friend's sister's hairdresser until you give in and settle with us for 7.95 cents, at which point we will publically announce that you and everyone you have ever known has paid for a license, wether or not you acutally USE or even OWN our products.
Failure to comply will result in legal action, as SCO will file a reverse class action, suing everyone in the world simultaneously for infringement.
You have been warned.
Thank you, and have a SCO day.
Blake Stowell, Darl McBride, Old Hob.
ITs a shame too, that something like IE is a requirement... if only people would write their damned web pages to be standards compliant and not MicroSoft compliant...
;-) (let the battle begin!)
I still think, however, that this would be a good job for the K12LTSP setup... with the exception of something like net-nanny...but then again, I thought Libraries were supposed to fight censorship..
Also, instead of having to encase the boxen in plastic, he could also, once the machine is installed, simply remove the floppy and cdrom drives from the machines, or at least, yank the power cables, then secure the cases with locks. Also enble both BIOS AND boot passwords (if available). Then the only problem is USB, but honestly, unless you are using USB mice and keyboards, usb can be disabled in BIOS as well...
And yes, you are absolutely correct, I too highly doubt that this is a new problem. I would like to see other existing libraries be this conscious of their IT decisions and infrastructure, but that is the world we live in.
Ack... damnit! Now there are snipers in my cell phone!