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Comment: Continuum (Score 1) 137

by bitty (#47851663) Attached to: Ask Slashdot: Remote Server Support and Monitoring Solution?

Check out http://www.continuum.net/. I've been using their services for over 5 years, and they've been steadily improving it since they split from Zenith Infotech. No, it's not free, but it's quite cheap per unit and you get a lot of bang for your buck. Remote monitoring and alerts on any service, remote access, at-a-glance dashboard, etc. With 500 clients, I'm guessing you'd rather spend your time monitoring the situation than putting together a custom solution.

Comment: Re:Hmmmm (Score 1) 145

by bitty (#32293594) Attached to: Researchers Restore Youthful Memory In Aging Mice

Running isn't really good for your body; it's really hard on your joints, especially if you run on concrete or asphalt (which just about everything in a metro area is covered with these days).

The big problem with running is the lousy shoes that all but force you to use a heel strike. It's the heel strike that trashes your knees and hips, and leads to fatigue very quickly. Take the shoes off and run barefoot, landing flat-footed or on the balls of your feet. At first you'll discover muscles you haven't been using, then you'll find yourself wondering why you wasted all that money on expensive running shoes.

Comment: Re:A fool and his money are some party (Score 1) 414

by bitty (#28629109) Attached to: Pickens Calls Off Massive Wind Farm In Texas

Correct, I never trusted his motives. Take a few minutes to look at the guy's history and you'll see why.

Making money is far from evil. Lying, cheating and/or stealing to make money is evil. There's a big difference. If he would have said, "I also plan to build a pipeline along this corridor to move water from one location to another" while he was crowing about his wonderful plan to build this wind farm, his reception would have been entirely different. It was a lie of omission, and he planned to use the land -- taken from its owners using eminent domain -- for huge personal gain. So you have lying AND stealing. Hence this scheme was evil.

Comment: Re:A fool and his money are some party (Score 5, Informative) 414

by bitty (#28624559) Attached to: Pickens Calls Off Massive Wind Farm In Texas


I think the "technical problems" may be that he couldn't get the okay to build his pipeline along the same corridor. I never trusted his motives, and I remember reading a pretty detailed article on this shortly after he announced his grandiose plan.

Comment: Re:Lack of options! (Score 1) 503

by Cervantes (#27671703) Attached to: My primary computer has N screens, with N being ...

I have a 21" CRT secondary and a 46" LCD-TV primary. Used to be a pair of 21's, but I lucked into an upgrade. Now I just have to sit reeeealllllyyy far back.

However, my highest monitor count (not counting kvm's, xwindows, virtual desktops, vnc sessions, etc etc blah) was 4. 21/21/17/14. Two for browsing, one for coding, one for MUDding. Ah, those were the days.

Of course, I had to buy a second desk to have room to do anything, but that's a different story...

Comment: Re:Bah (Score 1) 883

by Cervantes (#27267853) Attached to: Shell Ditches Wind, Solar, and Hydro

The surface of the earth could very well feed everyone, if it wasn't for profit hungry empires trying to prop up their inefficient business models along with their inefficient farming methods.

And I hope your troll mod wasn't for pointing out that the ethanol regulations drove up food prices, because you're right, it did. The problem with ethanol is it's based on corn, which is just about the most inefficient source of it. But a profit hungry empire is trying to prop up their inefficient business model, so here we are, suddenly having rising food prices because all the corn is going into ethanol. Base it on something better (hemp/algae/prairie grass), all of which can be grown on less desirable land, and watch prices fall while still maintaining the biofuel component.

Oh, wait, can't have that, those products don't have an empire yet...

Comment: Bah (Score 2, Insightful) 883

by Cervantes (#27252563) Attached to: Shell Ditches Wind, Solar, and Hydro

Bah, humbug.

Comment: Pft. (Score 1) 605

by Cervantes (#27182521) Attached to: My longest stretch without sleep (catnaps count) ...

48 hours plus? Pft. I'm running that right now.
Chronic insomnia, and pills just screw with my head too much. So I frequently skip a night or two of sleep. I'm used to it. I can go up to 3 days before I start to feel any effects or need caffeine. Back in my university days, I figured out the admin code to the coffee machine, since I was told "if you can hack it, you can have it". 2 litre bottles of cafe mocha = no sleep for a week.
In other news, my fiance can fall asleep in less than 5 minutes, and I hate her for it with a fiery, burning passion.

Comment: A new low for slashdot... (Score 1) 165

by Cervantes (#26758183) Attached to: The Broken Design of Microsoft's "Fix it" Tool

I thought I'd seen it all. OMGPonies... a front page filled with nothing but XP bashing... etc etc etc...

But, seriously. A front page story complaining that you could /download/ something? Sweet zombie jesus on a stick, WTF is wrong with you guys??? "I could download this thing... I think I'll write to /. about it!".

Articles like this make me firmly believe that we should start allowing natural selection again.

Comment: On a similar note... (Score 1) 103

by Cervantes (#26675565) Attached to: "Subhuman Project" Human Powered Submarine

On a similar and yet much cooler note, I encourage everyone to visit www.Expedition360.com , a most awesome site about a brits attempt to circumnavigate the globe only via unsuplemented human power. Read through the entire diary and you'll feel like you've read a great and fufilling book. Highly, highly recommended.

Comment: Re:What a load! (Score 1) 650

by Cervantes (#26662917) Attached to: EU Could Force Bundling Firefox With Windows

I know the point you're trying to make, I just think it's a load of shit. For many reasons, the foremost of which being that software is a different beast than other normal products for which one could validly consider bundling to be an antitrust action. The bottom line of an OS is that you NEED a browser in order to get online to get your choice of browser. Simply not bundling a browser is not the answer, because 50% of the populace is too dumb, or somehow not easily able, to get a browser loaded onto their system on their own. And it creates a ridiculous overhead too. You think the Mozilla Foundation can afford to print and send CDs all over the globe? Or are you just going to trust the guy at the Quik-E-Mart who burned you a copy of Firefox when he says he didn't put a trojan in there?

Yes, IE may suck, but a new computer needs a starting point, and IE is it. And as long as MS doesn't do something to stop you from loading any browser of your choice, there's really no reason to bitch.

And if you want Firefox/Safari/every other browser in existance loaded on to Windows, does that mean you're in favour of the same thing being done to *nix? I wonder how big those distro downloads will be with 50 browsers preloaded. And I wonder how confused all the noobs and old folks will be when they go to open the internet and there's 50 different icons there staring at them, and every one behaves differently.

Forced browser bundling is a retarded idea. Everyone has choice now, and that's what counts.

Comment: Re:What a load! (Score 1) 650

by Cervantes (#26615115) Attached to: EU Could Force Bundling Firefox With Windows

I'd like to live in your fictional universe. That would be great.

MS in NO WAY stops Mozilla, or Apple, or anyone else, from loading their browser onto Windows. Anyone can go and load up any browser they damn well feel like. Ergo, MS is not using their position to harm anyones ability to sell (or give away) browsers.

Comment: What a load! (Score 1) 650

by Cervantes (#26612991) Attached to: EU Could Force Bundling Firefox With Windows

Seriously... should we next force Coke to include a can of Pepsi in every 6-pack?

I know, let's just remove IE from Windows entirely... oh, wait, how would people go download Firefox or Safari or Chrome then?

This crap just drives me nuts... an OS needs to have a browser included. The fact that so many people stay with IE isn't a result of evil dominance, it's a result of people being to lazy to install something new. MS is in no way stopping people from using FF or GC or AS or anything else, and until they are, I really wish people would STFU and stop this pointless whining.

I really hope MS does start shipping a EU version of Windows, sans browser, and with a little note coming up to say "thank you for trying to access the internet. The EU has prohibited us from helping you with this. Please go find a CD of Firefox and then install it. Hope you don't live in a rural area!"

Long computations which yield zero are probably all for naught.