Posts by Herby

We get into problems when.....

...only a minority actually PAYS taxes. Then the others can by their votes get the "wealthy" to pay even more. Pretty soon the "wealthy" don't want to be "wealthy" much more and join the majority who just want to feed at the trough. It turns into a vicious cycle that ends up ruining us all. Unfortunately we are very close to this point here in the USA, sad to say.

So, yes, if you DO pay (income) taxes (however small) and were given the right to vote based on that fact, it might make a difference. Running things on "other peoples money" is just fine until it runs out!

Be Afraid, very afraid!!

When someone says: "I'm from the Government, and I'm here to help you."

As said by a wise person: "Government is not the solution, Government is the problem!".

Here in the USA, we just need to look at the last 5 years! I just remember that when money flows through a government agency (taxes in, grants, etc. out), there are major inefficiencies in the process. That along with the "strings attached" make it a pretty bad deal. I will admit that some things have worked out (very few). These include the USA's interstate highway system, and to a certain degree NASA. Unfortunately the list of failures far exceeds the successes. Life goes on, death and taxes.

Maybe he will BUILD a nuclear power plant

And show everyone that it can be done. It would be a nice change of pace.

It is not that he can afford it, but it might be called a "major purchase".

p.s. The Columbia River has lots of cooling fluid to use, and it borders Washington State.

Reciprocal Recording?

If anyone is allowed to record what you do (like the police), it should be automatic that you can record them as well with no consequences. It should apply to all forms of recording, both audio and video. So when they announce on a phone call that they are recording for "training purposes", it is implied that you can record the conversation as well.

The same should apply to video recording in whatever form.

So what is good for the goose, is good for the gander.

As for RoboCop, they just released a new version of the movie (or can Hollywood come up with anything different?).

Solving "CRAZY"

When my wife returns from the hairdressers, and asks the inevitable question that is something close to "How do you like my Hair?", the ONLY proper answer is:

"It makes you more beautiful than you already are!"

This solves LOTS of problems. Of course the question might take a different form, but the answer usually works in all cases.

You're welcome!

I'm happy.

Browser: Firefox

Office Suite: LibreOffice

Main OS; Linux

Development tools: GCC

Tablet: iPad

Phone: An old Motorola StarTac.

Internet: Anything I want to do, unencumbered.

All of these are really quite adequate for everything I want to do. So, as for Microsoft, the comment is "why bother".

Now where is the ...

JATO bottle when you really need it!

Power, baby! Power!!

Nof if they can get the current stuff to work properly

I'd be happy. At the present time their wonderful installer doesn't know the difference between 32 and 64 bit environments and gleefully installs in the wrong place. Then I need to go back and re-link things so adobe acrobat reader works correctly. You would think that they could get their act together.

Or: Pay not attention to the man behind the curtain. Oh, well.....

Fahnestock connections??

Look, nothing would be complete without them. Probably pre-date many of the connections mentioned in the comments.

As for crimp connections, PLEASE note that the color of the plastic sleeve is NOT to be used for color coding, it is to determine the wire size to be used. They typically had ranges: Red-small, Blue-intermediate, Yellow-large.

For reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fahnestock_clip

"Must wear corrective lenses"

Is on my drivers license. It got there a few years ago when I couldn't read the silly charts at the DMV that were poorly lit and too far away. Of course, I don't very much, but we now have a problem. I could become a glasshole and have them with nice "CORR LENS" which my license says, but wearing them would be illegal. Damned if you do, and damned if you don't.

As for "wearable computers": Many modern pacemakers (I worked on one about 15 years ago) have computers in them, and they are indeed implanted inside your body. Talk about "wearable". Would the law prohibit these as well? I note that the description of the Wyoming law (in the comments above me) might not, but one must always deal with the unintended consequences. I'm sure there will be many before this all gets sorted out.

"Nobody is safe while Congress is in session!"

Death and Taxes

Only sure things. Looks like Google has figures out both of them.

A billion here, a billion there...

Pretty soon it adds up to real money.

Everett Dirkson.

Of course he was talking about the US Government at the time, but it does play well in this context.

The 2014 version

Of the IBM data cell.

Of course it will probably be more successful. The IBM data cell was terrible, and with the failures, nobody wanted it AT ALL.

Data everywhere!

Please note: Peta="People Eating Tasty Animals"!

But I want my Foster Grants!

You know, I've got to be stylish. Will they work as aviator glasses like in Top Gun??

Fashion, Fashion!! Got to look "good".

Correlation equals causation?

Note to Climate Change people: Listen UP!

Enough said.

On the lighter side of things...

...Maybe they can look at the SPAM packets and charge more for them. It might even work.

As for the bigger picture:

Call them "Common Carriers" and be done with it. Of course then we will get nicked for every byte, but that is how it goes.

The end user should be the one that determines the "quality of service", Nobody else!

Linux as a game platform??

Perhaps this will move things from Windows based platforms for games. If this works out well, it would increase the stock in Linux by quite a bit.

More Linux games --> More Linux users --> More Linux games (etc...)

Amazing what can be done...

If one has the motivation. Now how about attacking the spammers and thieves that are out there. The recent Target store breach comes to mind.

Of course, one wonders, if the NSA has the nice "metadata" that is so freely available, why don't they cross reference it to things like the "do not call" list. THAT is something that might be a nice feature of government. It is not like they don't have the information, just not the will to do things. (*SIGH*).

Build conference, which will run from April 2–4 in San Francisco

Ought to be interesting. My big wonder is if they wil let in people wearing Google Glass, or have the Homeland Security people usher them out.

Of course, they could have a version of Windows that works on Google Glass, you never know. Now THAT would be interesting (and pigs can fly)!

So we are supposed to

...trust this Microsoft Cloud??

I don't think so!

Makes me want to...

...conjure up a nice fake Google Glass just to see what they would do. Not that I could use them anyway. I don't focus that near, given my age.

First the cops, now this. Doesn't anyone have any sense. (Hint: I suspect not!).

Business plan: Make knockoff Google Glass. Profit. Retire

Microsoft Research?

Oxymoron?

Write??

I suspect that the people at the Apple store didn't "write" the information, but rather keyed it in somehow (touch things on an iphone?).

Put that to the barristers and solicitors and see what happens.

Problem with "Prior Art"

The wonderful patent office doesn't see very clearly, and is VERY self centered. In their mind "Prior Art" is "that which is patented". While this is at times reasonable, it doesn't take into account other forms of "Prior Art". Things can get pretty obvious (turn the screwdriver clockwise) obviously need not be patented, but as the author mentions "synchronization of bits on a disk drive" was pretty obvious to those who made them, and it wasn't documented as it was "common knowledge". When they decided that "software" was patentable they didn't have much "prior art" in the patent library, and as such granted bunches of patents on things that were already in use, or "commonly known" to those of us who practice the art of software. This is the reason that software patents are really bad (Amazon "One Click" comes to mind).

Some of this could be mitigated if the public were more involved in the patent process, not just patent examiners. With the public's help say after one year of patent office examination, we could input our objections and notices of "prior art" and the patents issued would be much stronger than they are now. Wishful thinking, but it would be nice to have.

Why??

Because!!

I'd s.................

New Silicon Valley Paradigm

No, we aren't going public, we're selling out to Google.

You see going public is more difficult these days after Sarbanes-Oxley, and Dodd-Frank. Selling out to the borg Google is MUCH easier. As they say instant gratification isn't soon enough!

Microsoft change CPUs???

I kinda doubt it. They thought they could do NT on Alpha, but that is long gone.

They just don't have a good track record of migrating to a "new-different" ecosystem. It isn't in their blood. Apple has done it a couple of times from 68k to Power, and now x86, so they understand the necessary tasks to get the job done.

Yes, ARM has "low power" going for it, and its acceptance is gaining, but for "really big" data center things, it is a bit behind.

Of course, someone could do a "back to the future" operating and get a 68k chip all zoomed up and we could end up using that. An interesting concept.

Reminds me of "metric" in the USA. Very slow and painful process if at all.

Sorry Michele, your buddies...

...had to go home. That's how life is.

Note to self: Don't become friends with politicos to get work. It will never work out well.

Mars??

Yes, even on Mars there is climate change. Earth has had things on the surface of Mars for quite a few years (the Viking landers by the USA touched down in 1976) and lots of them have been beaming back climate data for many years.

So, guess what: The changes on Mars closely parallel those on Earth. The only thing that remotely is in common is our common star that as a huge Hydrogen Bomb is emitting energy at a horrific rate (I don't have the solar flux numbers handy).

Sure we have global climate change, but is the human influence causing most of it? I hardly think so. Please look to the Sun (but not directly, you might be blinded!).

Conspiracy??

I have doubts.

Remember: The validity of a conspiracy goes down as the number of people needed to make it happen goes up. Of course, the counter to this is The Matrix, and the 6th replicant.

As for the A-B picture, there is a nice shadow!

Next??

Spammers??

That would be wonderful. It would also decrease teh amount of traffic on the web by a few percent or so.

We can only hope!

So, what happens next??

Will IBM merge with another company that uses its ideas anyway? Google??

One never knows, but you heard it here first!

DeJa Vu all over again??

At one time there was this thing called "WebTV" that got acquired by that large Redmond Company. They offered an add-on box to make your TV into a browser. Of course it was barely 640x480 (interlaced to boot) but you could watch TV and browse alternately. Now we have this thing, albeit with a bit more resolution, doing the same thing.

Funny thing, people don't exactly want to browse from easy chairs, they usually want to do it from a desk of some sort. Oh, and web companies DESPISED WebTV since it did all sorts of things non standard. One comment was that it might have been more cost effective (manpower wise, etc) to trade all the WebTV boxen for something better, like a laptop. Oh, and the only thing left from WebTV is a building occupied by drones from Redmond.

Good luck LG, but I'd like a Linux box that can do lots of things! Now where is my Raspberry Pi??

Curious: Doesn't the Raspberry Pi use a micro USB for power?

Maybe I can get a new "charger" to power it.

Such fun. I like to repurpose things!

Lesson:

Scott Mc Nealy was right.

If you want privacy, BE PRIVATE.

A fool and their money...

...are soon parted.

It seems that this guy was good at cultivating fools. Then he took their money.

So, this is news??

Currencies in general...

Ought to have a nice Army behind them. One of these days the Bitcoin people might, but until then, the value just wanders around.

At least slot machine tokens can be traded back into "real money" at the cashier's window.

Only...

In San Francisco!

Probably hired by some silly people in a rent-a-protest scheme.

Didn't they use...

"Nuke-away". Mork had access to the stuff from the planet he came from.

Nanu Nanu

About time!!

Enough said!

Toothpaste??

One of the ingredients of some toothpaste is a Stannous Fluoride. In some localities, it is inserted into water to help prevent cavities. Of course I don't know if this material has similar properties, but you never know!

see:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stannous_fluoride

By the same logic...

If you can't have Google Glasses turned off while driving, then an unplugged TV set that you are transporting to your home in the front seat of your car can be considered a violation as well. It meets ALL the criteria: It is a TV, and it is in the vehicle front of the drivers seat, and (duh!) it is turned off.

It seems to me that the government is wasting LOTS of $$$ on this one.

Then again, Google is getting LOTS of free publicity as well.

Might be some wait!

Funny thing about radio is that it is a WORLD-WIDE standard. Unless other part of the world (like here in the USA) start going with DAB it just won't take off. Radio manufacturers won't care that the UK market wants DAB. There are all sorts of people that like the current FM broadcasts. When 4 channel stereo FM broadcast was being offered (I have intimate contact with the people involved, but not that type of intimate!) the lobby of the blind people that thought they would lose their reading channels (SCA subcarriers) brought it to a screaching halt as the attempts to answer all the form letters stalled the rule making.

In lots of markets here in the USA, the engineers are waiting to flip the switch to OFF as soon as possible as it just doesn't measure up to FM in its many uses (both fixed AND mobile). My recent experience was driving around in a friends car and noticing the difference in audio quality as we went into a tunnel and the DAB dropped off. It was quite dramatic.

Almost like digital TV (don't get me started) this looks like a reason to deliver more channels of lesser quality audio to the unsuspecting public.

All politics, not one bit of good engineering!

So, how do I annoy all the iPhone users at work?

I've got a nice laptop that does bluetooth quite nicely (it talks to a headset I use). Now I can just beacon some bluetooth stuff and various close by iPhones (I see a bunch of them at work) will beep and squak.

I could be nominated for local BOFH in no time flat.

Maybe my work (it is a big company that sells lots of PC tuff) has their own app that will sound off. This could be an "opportunity" too good to pass up!!

I just remember being told (at an outpost far away)...

That the work F*** was NOT to be used as a comma, especially when returning to "civilization"

Words to live by in "family company".