Posts by Langalf 21 publicly visible posts • joined 13 May 2009
There are areas where you truly have no choice. Industrial control is a prime example. While there may be some alternative control systems and PLC platforms that do not require Windows, the big players all run Windows-based development, control and HMI programs.
I have an original Pebble SmartWatch which is all the functionality I need in a wearable. With a week of battery life, it is handy and unobtrusive. I never have a tone or vibrate on my smartphone because the Pebble will notify me. A quick glance at my wrist tells me if I need to bother with the phone right away, without having to push any buttons. And yeah, I have a big digital watch/date on the front, so mostly it functions as a watch :)
werdsmith, I use my Pebble exactly the same way and I love it. I never have my phone on ring or even vibrate, because the Pebble provides the notifications in a much less intrusive way, and a quick glance at my wrist tells me what I need to know.
I have no interest whatsoever in a hulking overpriced smart watch which tries to be an on-wrist smartphone.
Production machines like that should be on a network that's deliberately several, preferably physical, steps removed from any automated update cycle.
Unfortunately, some of us administer systems covered by governmental regulations requiring we stay up-to-date on patches on the production machines. We are behind multiple firewalls, but still need to have the updates. WSUS is your friend here.
Now, to be honest, most of the LotR characters WERE in the backstory of The Hobbit. From Bilbo's limited point-of-view, they didn't exist. But, Jackson had already established from LotR that he was using the backstory bits to "flesh out" (puff up?) the story line. So, it was not unreasonable to find them in his Hobbit.
On the other hand, there was NO excuse for a 6 hour trilogy to cover a 2 hour story. <sighs>
I upgraded to Ubuntu 10.10 from 10.04 Netbook Remix a few months ago and was absolutely aghast. Unity on a netbook is one of the stupidest ideas I have ever seen. On a display with only 1024x600 resolution and limited horsepower, it makes no sense whatsoever. I promptly loaded Lubuntu 10.10, and have no intention of going back to the standard releases. I would prefer to use my netbook's horesepower for my applications, not the damned window manager "experience".
I have tried to used Unity on my netbook, and it is not ready for prime time. It is slow, clunky, and buggy on a machine that lacks the horsepower for such a cutesy interface. And, the sidebar cannot be overlaid, which really messes up most of the netbook applications that are already pressed for space on a 1024 x 600 screen. I sincerely hope they make Unity a whole lot more configurable by the time Ubuntu 11.04 comes out.
It is a common misconception that witches were burned. Mostly, witches were hanged, while heretics were burned.
Also, before someone starts down this path ... the "burning times", as commonly conceived, is an urban legend. Most of the people hung as witches in the late middle ages were Christian, and about half were men. Mostly, it was a Protestant, not a Catholic phenomena. There was no "wicca' in Europe at that time; they are a 20th Century movement.
Here is one explanation for "hanging" in Second Life ... I live in a small town two hours from any major entertainment / shopping / interaction with a larger group of people. For little more than the cost of an Internet connection, I can (and routinely do) spend time with people from all over the world. I can engage in role play in fantasy / medieval / futuristic settings, attend live concerts, and generally have a whole lot more fun than if I plopped down in front of the TV for the evening. We cannot all live in large metropolitan areas with the world at our real-life fingertips.
The Register 
Biting the hand that feeds IT
Copyright. All rights reserved © 1998–2024
