I figure that trolling is one of the reasons for the US's 1st amendment.

Speech that upsets somebody for some reason is the only kind that somebody is going to try and restrict.

If you're not upsetting somebody, you're doing life wrong.

The UK is a lost country. It's a shame.

Disclaimer: I have no Enfield experience.

It turns out that patent encumberance isn't the only thing that makes something difficult to make.

Many older weapon designs were optimized for low volume manufacturing by skilled machinists, and required hand fitting by gunsmiths and armorers. That made sense when human labor was cheap and skilled.

The Garand and M14 receivers, for instance, are very complicated to build. The 1911 is also a much loved design, but most 1911s are either built to loose tolerances or require custom, per-example fitting.

Comparatively, the AKM receiver is bent sheet metal. Any workshop that can do basic metal work can build an AKM; the barrel is the only specialized part.

The M4/AR15/M16/AR10 family of receivers were designed post-aerospace industry, and are made to be mass produced by machining down aluminum forgings. I know multiple people who have completed their own AR15 receivers on CNC equipment.

The SIG handguns manufactured in the USA are taken from billet to serial number in a single machining center; no operator intervention required.

It turns out that it can be very difficult to re-create old things. Often, the original tooling is missing. The techniques used may no longer be taught nor widely practiced.

Comparatively, building a modern mass produced firearm is a matter of having the right CAD files.

The NeXT heritage is still very strong in OSX

Calling it "Mach" is correct in the sense that the kernel is still the Mach microkernel, which came from NeXTSTEP. It does not have a BSD kernel.

It's BSD in the sense that _much_ of its userland is BSD, but certainly not all.

It also has many things that BSD does not have, which were proprietary from {NeXT/Open}STEP. For instance, the "netinfo" subsystem, the "defaults" subsystem, the plist architecture, Objective-C, XCode (which, afaik, is a modernization of NeXTs InterfaceBuilder).

OSX is much more like NeXTSTEP than it is *BSD.

Apple has of course added some more of its own stuff that isn't BSDish at all. Look at how the system startup stuff works, for instance.

If you tolerate people that want Linux called "GNU/Linux", because they are separating the userland and the kernel, the right thing to call OSX might be "BSD/Mach", but that nomenclature really ignores all of the things that NeXT did and that Apple has done since..

I spent lots of time on NS 3.3, OS 4.2, Rhapsody DRx, and every released version of OSX.

(in my view, OSX is a regression in usability from NeXTSTEP . Get off my lawn!)

How fast can any OS (or person) run with a stick up ones rear the way the Lollipop mascot seems to ?

scroll, scroll, "lisp", back.

How do you determine that the checksum hasn't been modified in transit?

You could always audit the code yourself and compile it as well... but are you sure your compiler doesn't have any backdoors which might inject evil code just for something like this?

The bugger about paranoia... is you never know if you are sufficiently paranoid.

The CDC is now saying that the transmission in TX was caused by a "breach of protocol", which is not surprising given that the barrior protocols are exacting and onerous.

I don't want to misattribute something to the CDC, but what I read was glaringly clear on this point.

What the unnamed party said, was, "there HAD to be a breach of protocol, because this person is infected. However, we haven't identified what the breach was yet"

Circular reference?

Any protocol that results in you dying if you make a single mistake in a very long list of mundane tasks is a poor protocol.

Organizations with operational excellence have basic things like written checklists and safety tags and other stuff. The USAF for instance has methods of managing risk and mitigating risk that can be carried out by people who aren't anywhere near as well educated as most American medical professionals.

I have no idea what tree you are barking up, but I'm not in it.

Your mechanic doesn't advertise that he is providing a free service. It is entirely clear to both parties what is changing hands.

In the case of FB, google, and most other online services that are free-to-use, you are absolutely the product, because the revenue model depends on selling data about you to 3rd parties. These services also don't make it abundantly clear that this is their business model. In fact, facebook in 2011 advertised that it would "always be free"

I actually raise bees, chickens, and sheep. I'm quite familiar with the sacrifices involved in keeping livestock. I also know why I'm putting my money and effort into keeping them alive.

They don't.

Yes.

Another adage seems appropriate.

If a for profit company is taking care of you for free, you aren't the customer.. you're the product.

You should feel like a pig on a farm....well fed and happy right until the end.

Google's business model has always been about analyzing your data and selling "you" to others.
They need your data.

Each person needs to decide for themselves if what they're getting (free web email?) is worth what they're "selling" to google and others..

btw, I started using facebook's ads manager earlier this week for a project. If you haven't looked at it before, you should. The amount of data facebook thinks it knows about people and that it is willing to let advertisers target is pretty interesting.

The NYT drove the car in circles in a parking lot to run down the battery, then lied about the range. Musk pulled the GPS data and PROVED they were lying.

http://www.teslamotors.com/blo...

Bingo.

I would modify your statement a bit though - because different people want different things out of cars. I know Prius and Leaf owners that are already sold on electric vehicles. Those vehicles are insufferable yawn-inducers, so I'll never be interested... but plenty of people already are.

However, the Teslas (so far) are clearly drivers cars made for discerning buyers by real enthusiasts. I've taken a model S on a test drive and it was really magnificent.

Here is a selection of my current crop of cars:
Audi A4 Quattro, 6MT
88 BMW M5, 5MT
87 BMW 325is, 5MT, gutted race car

I've been a driving instructor with the BMW Car Club of America. I've done countless track days on multiple race tracks. I love fast cars and I love pushing them hard.

The Tesla model S is awesome. I took it for a nice test drive. It is easy to drive around town, and it accelerates, turns, and stops very well. It is comfortable and quiet. The acceleration is instant. It will make you smile every time you hit the throttle. The regenerative harvesting is great; you rarely have to use the brakes, but if you want to, the brake pedal has a good feel and the car stops in a hurry.

At less than autobahn speeds, it is as fast as an M5. It handles very well for a large sedan. It is quieter than a Mercedes. With the Model D's, it will also have AWD, like the best Audis.

After a short drive, I would say that the car is clearly head and shoulders above the other luxury sedans it competes against.

The model S has two downsides: range and price. It's a great car for 350 days out of the year. The other 15 days, you may want to take medium to long road trips. Then you'll have some difficulties - for now.

However, even there, the difference between its luxury sedan competitors isn't night and day. All of those cars I mentioned require premium fuel, and that can be very hard to find when on longer trips, especially in the mid west. So in fact you need to plan your trips anyhow to make sure that compatible fuel will be available along your route.

I like http://speedof.me/

It's fast, works with HTML5, works on mobile, tablet, desktop. As far as I can tell, it's hosted in the Amazon Cloud.

-frank

I like to sew confusion into a jacket, then walk through a crowd wearing it.

It's not just Steve.

A few years back I indulged my then girlfriend (now wife) by joining her at an Apple Store to have them try to sell her on a MacBook (vs a PC).

During the pitch she asked about if she would need any anti-virus software for the machine and was told simply "No, Macs don't get PC viruses"

(Yes the statement is technically true, it does not answer her question nor provide an accurate reflection of the need for anti-virus/malware software even on a Mac).

Despite my jaw dropping in utter disbelief to the answer I had just heard, she later commented how surprised I was that I could keep my mouth shut during such nonsense.