Fruit Flys ≠ Humans
Unfortunately for the males of the human species. (*SIGH*)
3058 publicly visible posts • joined 14 Dec 2007
That just destroys IE6. I mean just wipes as much of it off the face of the earth. Then when people search for a solution, it says "upgrade".
Of course if would be a proof of concept and wouldn't be released to the wild. No, never!! And Google would never do it (they wouldn't need to!).
As for Google being "the anti Microsoft", making Microsoft "the anti Google", what does that make Apple? It is answered in the old phrase:
"The enemy of my enemy is my friend" (historical reference: WW2!).
Here in the USA, the banks "aren't responsible". They are insured by our government (in the form of FDIC) for only $250k (it used to be $100k). If you have a "loss" of more than that amount, so sorry, the bank is not liable AT ALL. Even if you do get FDIC to give you something, since it is related to foreign things, it falls under the department of Homeland Security. Most of the people there are wannabe political hacks, and don't care AT ALL. I've got a friend who has been waiting almost TWO YEARS to get some of the scammed $$$ back into his account. In the meantime he can't even open a bank account in his name since it all was frozen (again by Homeland Security) just to be "safe" (or to have a political hack keep his job).
Maybe the suit by the city against the bank will bring things to light (but don't count on it)!!
One of these days the tin-foil-hat people will understand, but probably not in their lifetime. Of course, one must consider ALL sources of EMF, including that great nuclear reactor that is emitting them 93,000,000 miles away. Until THAT gets shut off, I don't think anything will truly be EMF free. Of course there is the big-bang background radiation that persists, and I don't think THAT is going away anytime soon.
Why doesn't he move to Taliban territory. They seem to be in the 13th century when EMF wasn't a problem!
There is a BUNCH of nice white space between 300MHz and 400MHz. Of course it is used by governments (and their army/navies). What do governments need with radios, don't they all use cell phones or some such. All that nice unused spectrum gone to waste, and they can't use it. Let the FCC/OFCOM sell it off and make money. Surely the military can pay for it.
Yes, all this white space junk is terrible. You need to be in control of ALL aspects of the link to really know if it is compatible. Looking at just one side won't cut it, and never will!!
For REMOVING Windoze of Office from a new computer?
Shouldn't every computer come with such "rebates". It would be a really nice feature given the market. One of those nice netbooks at a $100 off as I reckon. Should be a requirement of a "pre-installed" operating system provided by a third party.
I am also advising a friend that OpenOffice is an alternative to the later versions of whatever Microsoft uses. He is willing to "try it out" to see if it fits the bill. Pretty simple to test-drive if you ask me. Of course, if it works, he will save a BUNCH on license fees on his XP machines which he has no intention of updating any time soon.
Most of the hardware in a power plant is pretty common even for nuclear and steam power. It may take a bit of time, but a nice new "good" reactor (from France?) might plug like a new CPU on a motherboard.
P.S. Pipe fitting extra. At least they turned off the engine before it seized now they need to do a heart transplant! Hopefullt there is no immune reactions during the transplant!
The conference phone "interjection" idea is already covered. Doesn't anyone know about the "mute" button. On the "other" end it gets pressed and in that room, there is a running commentary of the blowhard's speech on the other end. It is usually more enlightening that the "naked" speech anyway, and much more fun.
As for shoe tactile feedback, they already did that one. Way back when there was a blackjack computer that used a method of shaking the toes to indicate stand/hit and the other toes were used to enter the card count.
As the saying goes: Everything old is new again, and then it is patented just to make sure! (*SIGH*)
I have a good friend that is using these "docx" files (I don't know if he uses the infringing things or not), and I have been pointing him to OpenOffice. I understand that Version 3 DOES allow the use of these "docx" files (actually a zip file with lots of stuff added in!). The big question I have is: Does OpenOffice have this "patented" capability? and will i4i sue them as well, getting an injunction to remove it?
Inquiring minds want to know!
p.s. Tomorrow's headline: Microsoft announces the acquisition of a Canadian company based in Toronto called I4I. Details of the agreement were not announced at press time.
Gee wiz, charging for mandated frequency use? Nice try.
I like the part about charging for WiFi, force everyone who buys a wireless router to pony up a few Quid/Bucks to get one.
I suppose the next thing would be Microwave Ovens, as they also radiate at 2.4GHz!
Trucks driving by to see if you have the proper license for the Microwave oven, pulling over to stop granny from heating up a scone or some such. What a joke!
Do you REALLY think that the $$$ the government will make selling out the frequencies will go to pay for the TV stations upgrade. I have my EXTREME doubts. Once the government gets its hands on any amount of money (all governments are this way!) it is VERY reluctant to give anything back. More than likely they will stick it to the TV stations and mandate (just like the Digital TV mess we now have) they do the job themselves. And that will go over how well??
The cell phone people should just add digital TV receivers to their cell phones and off load the "Broadcast" traffic from their cell networks. Look why should there be any more than ONE stream of bits for a TV signal to any number of cell phones, not one for each as it is now, chewing up LOADS of bandwidth in the process.
CTIA should pound sand!
Oh, and analog TV worked MUCH better that the junk compressed bad signal stuff we have now. The only "feature" is wide screen and a not bery good one at that!
P.S. Just make it work in the SF bay area (loaded with mountains and LOTS of dead spots!
The Bible. There has been LOTS of work in thes area, by taking letters and puting them in nice neat rows and reading the columns. All sorts of "messages" were decoded. Of course the Bible mess was made easier by using Hebrew, and the "no vowel" version.
Nothing new. finding something where nothing exists, been done for ages.
Wait I heard a voice that said.........
Instead of USB-3, Intel should have promoted Firewire as the better alternative. I really don't need a 100Mbit.sec data rate for my keyboard or mouse.
The better alternative was Apple's ADB bus. IT was designed for the small number of input devices (keyboards and mice) that were in use. USB is just another mish-mash that started out reasonable, but got more and more involved. Look, it even gave a blue screen for Bill Gates in a televised demonstration, so it didn't do its job when it was first implemented.
Enough said.
Of course, I could go on about the IDE interface vs. SCSI, but that is another kettle of fish (*SIGH*).
I'll just wait for Fedora 12 which is due out sometime this month. Typically it will get released, and be followed by a bunch of updates. Then all is right with the world.
Of course I don't update that quickly, as I am currently using a Fedora 8 machine to write this with (it has the 2.6.26 kernel).
I have a friend that has had is bank account frozen by the government for over TWO years. He was the victim of the identity theft, but that almost pales in comparison the what delays the government has done. He has been mooching off of me to the tune of over $100k and I hope that the government will "let his money out of jail".
Then again, if cashing a LEGITIMATE overseas check wouldn't take THREE weeks, it might restore my faith in the banking system we have here in the USA! (Don't get me started on this!)
...Down hill, with a tail wind. Most likely on cruise control at a walking pace. Wind resistance goes up as the square of the speed.
The other alternative is that they stowed it in a truck (Lorrie) for the trip, and drove it for the last 5 miles.
Me? My nice SUV gets about 350+ miles on a tank of gas going over 70mph down I-5 in the central valley (of California), and it hauls a bunch of stuff while I'm doing it and the air conditioner is just fine thank you.
...babe like the Asus EEEPC has. Of course if it has W7 maybe it can be re-purposed to have a "better user experience" with an operating system with a smaller disk/memory footprint. Oh, it might use a better browser (one that meets standards) than a stock W7 pile of #$%@#.
All anybody worries about in something like this is the browser anyway, and the fact it is "mobile".
Now that was a wonderful calculator! It did cost $399 in 1971, and since I was an engineering student at the time I paid it. It is a wonderful thing, not a silly graphing thing that can't print out the result. It proved to be invaluable. It simply wasn't a chunky "four banger" calculator, it did scientific stuff, and had a STACK. With suitable knowledge you could actually do complex stuff on it.
And I did. Once in Thermodynamics we had a silly day test in the fine art of interpolation. At the beginning of the class I specifically asked if I could use my calculator (it was approved!). I slugged it out and had the answers to the four problems done at the end of the "hour". Others in the class were attempting to get addition and accuracy from slide rules (still in use at the time). The results were wonderful (at least for me!). I got 100%, and the next lowest grade was in the 30% to 39% range. The instructor had interesting comments for that class (and I was in Electrical engineering), That day I was not "looked up to" very much.
What would happen if PC required a signed operating system, and only Microsoft had the signing key (I shouldn't speak too loud, as it could happen!). No freedom for you! This is a similar example.
(*SIGH*)
Having done Fortran programming since the "Fortran II days" I can attest that it is alive and well. My last position had it well ingrained in the functionality they were using, and while I did leave a year ago, they had more Fortran lines than could be converted so they must still be using it. Yes, it was mostly Fortran 90, but the code base dated back to the Fortran 66 (Fortran 4) days.
As for Chokes on automobiles, what was usually required was a couple of pumps of the gas pedal before engaging the starter. That was the "automatic" part of it. On VW's if you took out the "automatic choke" (which usually didn't work anyway) the engine ran a few RPM faster, which on a 1200cc (later 1400cc) engine helped!
Look in a few years, we will celebrate Fortran's 60th!
Yes, life is a very dangerous thing. But, we all deal with it in many ways. I suspect that the daily showering and the like (I do use soap and water!) is probably healthy for me. The running water DOES generate a small static electric charge that yields ions that make me feel good. It was noted in the study that PLASTIC showerheads had more of the silly bacteria that metal ones, and thankfully I use one of those (I see a law here!). For the most part, we need to understand there are tradeoffs in EVERY action we do. Sure I can walk for 1/2 hour to the drug store (which I just might do today), or I could drive. At the moment, my time isn't worth much, being unemployed, so I might walk. Were I employed, I might not have as much time, so I could drive and emit all those nasty green house gases (I suppose that breathing doesn't do this, as it is never discussed by Al Gore and his friends). All a tradeoff.
Just remember this: LIFE IS A TERMINAL DISEASE. No amount of work will change that AT ALL!
We now return you to the regularly scheduled program of comments.
"Bing 1.0 arrived in May, and Microsoft has promised two Bing updates a year."
I can hardly wait. You know all about Microsoft's promised updates to Windows back when the version after XP was promised in oh, 2004 or so. Only to be delivered a few YEARS late.
Now if they did operating system updates at a two-a-year pace they might keep up with the bugs (just remember, Windows doesn't have bugs!).
Dream on.
Apple's hangup on Basic being included in the C64 image is probably due to the fact that some company in Redmond Washington (USA) holds the copyright to the Basic interpreter. They supplied almost all the Basic's for 8 bit machines (there were exceptions, but VERY few). Of course they don't supply Basic interpreters any more, but they STILL hold the copyright!
PLC systems usually are of limited range. Here in the USA we have these X10 devices that allow houses to flip lights and outlets on & off. These work quite well, as the bit rate is probably a bit les than 100 bps (yes, one hundred bits per second). With these rates, they can time the transmissions at the zero crossing of the power line, and they work quite well with limited range (inside the house).
The PLC people (it is called BPL, broadband over power line) here think that they can use power cable (14 gauge wire 1/4 inch separation) like we all use Cat-5 wire that is tightly twisted for multi megabit transmissions. It just doesn't work. What happens is that the power line acts like a nice antenna (the adapters would probably work better if they just had an antenna connected instead of trying the power line as an antenna).
The other problem is that they think that they can get broadband signals to work. Guess again! the aggregate data rate of a bunch of users is WAY beyond the published capacity of the system. It just dies on the vine.
So, it is neither broadband, or over power line. The interference happens everywhere, and the more users that are there, the worser it gets. The limited tests here in the USA have all gone bust, and our FCC (you call it Ofcom) has all but pulled the plug (pun intended!)!
The sooner this dies, the better!
...They detonated a nice A-Bomb on the surface and told everyone here on earth when it was going to happen. Then we could all look up into the sky and watch "from a safe distance". While it wouldn't do much, it sure would be a nice show. It might even get rid of some "waste" if done correctly. The problem is that I'm sure there would be lots of people objecting to it (exercise: Name the groups/whackos). Maybe when a lunar eclipse comes about and the "green cheese" is dark it would be an interesting demonstration.
Ah, to dream.
p.s. I did have the occasion to shake Pete Conrad's hand, and that is about as close as I'll get to the moon's surface (*SIGH*).
Do we have a contest on how long it takes to install some version of Linux. Everyone take a new W7 and a Linux distribution (of their choice). The winner is the person who goes from W7 to Linux in the shortest amount of time. That would be a contest!
As others have said: "Free bling!!"
...that "Cash for Clunkers" ended on Monday (yesterday as I write this). We could have paid $4800 (or so) and then put some of that "engine sieze" fluid in SCO's veins. It would have been appropriate.
Only then would we SCO vanish into the haze.
Now they have to clog up the courts with this silly act. The only saving grace is that this was NOT decided by the 9th circuit.
...to my Quadra 840AV running 7.6.1 and leave it at that. Back in its day it was a "smokin" machine. Too bad Apple abandoned the 68k for the PPC only to abandon that for intel. Just think what would have happened if IBM hadn't picked an intel processor for the original PC 28 years ago. We can only dream. (*SIGH*)
CDMA is probably a better technology. In addition, CDMA phones don't make funny sounds in AM radios when they broadcast system inquiries. Of course here in silicon valley, the CDMA coverage is a bit better. One of these days AT&T will get a few more towers planted (over peoples objections, ill founded as they are).
As the commercial here says "Its the network!" (then adds "Can you hear me now!").
What really needs to be done is to have the cell phone providers actually publish their DETAILED coverage maps so we could decide better. None of this map with various sized of red dots.
It seems that somebody might soon, you never know. You know using it to compute products and the like. Seems VERY patentable to me.
Oh, prior art? Somebody mention an IBM 1620 which had a multiplication table. Sorry, never mind. (For the interested the Model 1 of the IBM 1620 also had an add table.)
That seems to appear on some sets. Recently I visited a nice motel in Southern California. They had a nice LG wide screen "hi def" television. If you didn't look too close it was "OK", but with a little closer inspection, all the pictures were very pixelated. Downright terrible. I don't know what they had at the other end of the cable feeding the TV, but whatever it was, it just didn't do the trick. I saw better quality transmissions on a 5 year old CRT TV in 4:3 aspect ratio.
Just remember, no adjustment can cure bad quality source material, or a bad transmission path (even with good quality source material). The analog TV signals we used to have here in the USA were actually quite good in comparison to some of the signals I now see (*SIGH*).
Just because you have a nice wide screen doesn't mean it is "hi def".