In a way, I agree - but I can't say that I like KDE or Gnome 3. I ended up settling on XFCE using Fedora 20. It boots fast, everything works as it should (except a PCI DVB card - but I already had a spare USB one that works fine).

Thunderbird for email, Chrome for web browsing, terminal, Steam for my TF2 fix, and it all 'just works' - especially now the open source radeon driver does dynamic power management correctly.

I'm just in the middle of purchasing a new laptop - and the first thing that will happen is it be formatted and Fedora 20 get installed. I've also moved away from Google for contacts / calendar sync and now using OwnCloud (private stuff ftw!), and Dropbox is also replaced by OwnCloud. I'm finally getting to have a say in my OS and data security!

Thats too much work... They just need to pay some young girl a few grand to say she was raped by him. Oldest trick in the book....

Diary / Calendar entry:
Meeting at 1300 today with Anon Coward.

Look at that, its recorded. If its in my phones calendar its even a digital recording of it. Better really get your mask on... But wait, wouldn't I still know it was you if I talked to you?

This is where it gets silly.... You worry about the certification for other software, but not the base OS? If the certification is important, then it would be BETTER to use the proper RHEL and not a free 'knockoff'....

I don't think anyone really cares about binary compatibility. I cannot think of a single operational advantage that this gives - apart from "narf, the checksums match what I could have paid for". The massive migration away from CentOS in version 6 proved this.

Correct - and the team at Scientific Linux are awesome to work with. It is a breath of fresh air from the poison that is the CentOS 'community'.

11 months ago I finished my Commercial Pilots License - I haven't been able to find any work at all since completing it. That was the last time I touched a plane.

The same problem exists. People are expected to splash $100k AUD on their license, then work for ~$25k a year. Not to mention get themselves to jobs on their own dime etc... I hear the same lines "There is a massive pilots shortage!!" - which is absolute bullshit. We just have to take other jobs to pay off the loans etc we took for our training.

It just about gutted my career - but this is the world we live in. Now I'm only casually employed - and making about the same amount as I would as a pilot - while working only a handful of hours.

No, No they don't. If you look at the packet-per-second performance you get when you put even some basic rules in there, you'll be surprised. Some systems have their PPS rate halved by this...

iptables -N eth0-in
iptables -N eth0-out
iptables -A FORWARD -i eth0 -j eth0-in
iptables -A FORWARD -o eth0 -j eth0-out

Then create all the rules you need in the specified chain.

The way to get the most performance out of iptables is to make each chain as small as possible. This can quite easily be split up into logical lists for what you actually do - ie:

iptables -N 10.1.1.1
iptables -N 10.1.1.2
iptables -N 10.1.1.3
iptables -A FORWARD -i eth0 -d 10.1.1.1 -j 10.1.1.1
iptables -A FORWARD -i eth0 -d 10.1.1.2 -j 10.1.1.2
iptables -A FORWARD -i eth0 -d 10.1.1.3 -j 10.1.1.3

This way, you can easily branch out and skip a fuckton of rules that will never apply to the packet that is being processed. Usually, you can bring each chain to less than 6 rules. Less rules == less overhead == more performance.

The best advice I have ever been given in flying is this: Unload yourself.

What does this mean? Ok, power on, take off roll, reach takeoff safety speed (usually 1.5x stall), rotate, airborne, set your climb attitude. Next thing, trim. With a bit of practice, about 20 seconds after liftoff, you will be trimmed for the climb - this means you can take your hands off the controls and you'll continue to climb at your (usually) 500ft/min. Your speed will be stable, your climb rate will be stable, and you'll keep climbing until you either get disturbed by a gust of wind etc or you change the controls.

Take this time now that you can fly with hands off to glance at your engine instruments - that the RPM is what you expect it to be, oil temps and pressure is ok, airspeed is what you expect, then check your performance again (attitude, power etc). This can all be done within 45 seconds after liftoff. Now you do what any VFR pilot does best - look outside. As you're not struggling to keep the aircraft under control, you can observe what is going on outside. Looking for traffic, obstacles, making sure what you see outside matches the instruments (ie you're climbing, going fast enough etc).

Coming up to your assigned / desired altitude, use the yolk to bring the nose down, power to cruise, trim, trim, trim. Usually up to about 1/2 - 3/4 of a turn on the trim wheel and you're almost able to fly hands off again in seconds.

A good exercise here - trim for the climb, then don't touch the yolk again until you're on final to land. Use the trim for your attitude and rudder for turning. Do the entire circuit using only trim, rudder and throttle. As you would have been taught, the secondary action of yaw is roll - so you'll find you actually start to bank while only using the rudder. It gets tricky - and you'll be all over the place while first trying this - but it is great for learning the relationship as to what you're doing affecting the aircraft.

Anyhow - this isn't flight training 101 on slashdot, but learning to fly has been a highlight of my life - and I'm always happy to share things with people. Feel free to email me if you want to discuss more random things ;)

Heh - the 'bright light' called a landing light in a C172 is almost as bright as a single car headlight (if you're lucky, like the high beam). It does sweet fuck all to illuminate the runway. If you're waiting to see the runway via the landing light before you flare, you're going to have a bad time - and probably crater. Larger aircraft have much brighter lights, but the effect is still the same.

Night landings are hard. There are no floodlit runways that I know of in existence. The only form of reference you have is the shape of the lights. There are very few clues of your height or speed by looking outside at night. Night flying kills many - as it is VERY easy to fly straight into the ground because you can't see it - this danger is magnified even more when you are on approach to an airfield - especially if it is one with a 'black hole effect'.

During my night flying assessment, I was required to land at an airport 'void of artificial lighting' - ie only runway lights. As you fly towards the airport, imagine a completely black area with two rows of lights. That is all you have. If you're lucky and there is a full moon, you may be able to make out the ground. I'd say it is one of the hardest things I have ever had to do.

I'm a commercial pilot (who is currently unemployed) - however operating the radio is part of my pre-flight briefing with anyone in the right seat in any G/A aircraft. In this briefing, I also go through what I'll do if we have a radio failure or comms problems - as part of this includes them using the radio (if required). Most people are very attentive - and its with this exact reason in mind - if anything incapacitates me, the least I can do for passenger safety is to get them to talk to someone who can help.

If the person in the right seat is a bit of a fan about flying, I'll teach them a bit about basic flight controls during the flight as well. Most people see if as a bit of fun and enjoy it - but there is a serious reason behind the scenes... The best way to be prepared in aviation is to think ahead.

For less experienced pilots, this is why we always aim to trim an aircraft for the correct attitude and performance as early as possible. The last thing you want to do is to leave the aircraft incorrectly trimmed and have something happen to you. When you step up to jet aircraft, the most important control in the aircraft is the trim. Use it well and often.

Only in training? I'd say about 1 in 20 landings is still a fuckup compared to what we aim for... Once you get a few thousand hours experience, you'll probably still fuck up 1 in 50... True, the degree of fuckup is greatly reduced - but professional pilots with thousands of hours still bounce 737's etc.

Wow - you showed more compassion than me ;)

Make one even better change. Allow comment moderation above +5 -- but only for this article...

Sadly, there is no way to impress upon the Dice morons how much people agree beyond +5 at these comments....