Comment Geodetic datum (Score 2) 172
It depends on the geodetic datum you use.
Comment Re:Norway (Score 1) 386
Actually, starting this year, by law, the company you work for has to support electronically picking up your tax bracket directly from the government. Citizens no longer need to to worry about their tax card, however you can still inspect it online.
I would also say that most people don't have to make any changes to your filings, it's more relevant checking the information that goes into your tax-card, especially if you expect a change of income or debts as it effects your tax rate/bracket.
Furthermore, you are no longer required to (digitally) sign your tax returns. If you make no change or objection it is assumed that you're happy with them.
Comment Re:Incredibly stupid (Score 1) 313
I'm sorry, but being able to put air in my tires and refill the oil on my car does not mean that I know anything about mechanics. And that's pretty much all that I need to know to be able to own a car. If I don't even own a car, just operate one occasionally I probably need to know even less.
Comment Re:broaden your horizons :P (Score 1) 313
Well it's a good thing I did not say that you had to become a world class expert then. Knowing enough to being able to do what you want in every field may be a little more than you think then.
There is a lot of difference between basic fields and sciences. Would you say that all fields of knowledge have the same level of requirements to understand them?
PS: Good for you. how's you knowledge about creating and maintaining fish ponds or basic elevator maintenance?
Comment Incredibly stupid (Score 1, Interesting) 313
By the same token you should also know a little about raising pigs as you won't be held a****** farmer, or mechanic, and lets not forget those a****** astrophysicists, clearly everybody should be able to calculate the amount of redshift from a distant star. In todays society we need to specialize and not everyone can learn a little of everything.
Comment Re:Treadmill desk (Score 1) 204
How about just buying one?
http://kontormolla.no/
Comment Re:Oh, it's Sony (Score 5, Insightful) 129
I would just like to add a +1 to this, and would have loved to see a poll on the number of people who would just never buy a Sony device.
After owning a Sony laptop (why do I want that memoryshtick shit and why is everything on it non-standard?), a minidisc recorder (why can I only upload to it, not even download stuff I recorded myself?), seen the crazy that was the rootkit (thankfully didn't happen to me) I vowed never to buy their crap again. The playstation nonsense proved that it was a good idea and I can't see it ever change.
Friends don't let friends buy Sony.
Submission + - Norwegian artist publishes 100 songs for free
logru writes: According to Tønsberg Blad the Norwegian artist Alexander Vinter, going by the pseudonym "Vinter in Hollywood", is fed up with the music industry and releases his last three months of work for free. "- I'm fed up with the recording industry. There are too many people to get past and all records have to be 16 tracks or less. I published 100." The entire set of 100 tracks which Vinter calls a mixtape is has been uploaded complete with cover art, playlists and extra bonus art here. Even though Vinter does not appear to have discounted using traditional music distribution as a means to earn money off of his creations he appears to be so prolific that he would rather give away his unpublished efforts that having it bit rot in his studio.
Submission + - Vendetta Online adds "Dynamic Warfare" gam 1
Incarnate-VO writes: With the Friday night release, Linux-friendly space MMO Vendetta Online has launched Dynamic Warfare: a new long-term battle and large-scale warfare mechanic designed to permit factional conquest of geographical areas. In this first-generation implementation, players and NPCs of the Itani and Serco Nations vie for weekly control of 177 sectors within a critical solar system (Deneb). Several different battles may be running concurrently at any time, with a variety of different battle scales ranging from epic conflicts of capship fleets to small fighter-only engagements. The diversity of scale allows both varied gameplay styles and accessibility to players on older computing hardware.
Comment Re:No, it doesn't! (Score 1) 120
I would assume that is not a huge issue as af9ad.example.com is not a host that people would go to or anything would point to for that matter.
Submission + - Amazon DRM-Less Music Store goes Beta 2
LowSNR writes: Amazon this morning moved their DRM-Free music store into open beta. According to the release, "Since all our digital music downloads are DRM-free, you can play them on anything that plays mp3s including PCs, Macs(TM), iPods(TM), Zunes(TM), Zens(TM), iPhones(TM), RAZRs(TM), and BlackBerrys. Plus, our Amazon MP3 Downloader application makes it easy to add your downloads to iTunes(TM) and Windows Media Player(TM), so you can sync up your devices or burn your music to CD hassle-free." Not to mention Linux.
Submission + - Enderle Explains His Motivations Over SCO Affair (tgdaily.com)
CmdrGravy writes: "Anyone following the SCO saga from the beginning will probably be familiar with the writing of Rob Enderle who was in the early days a key supporter of SCOs claims. Now that SCO is heading swiftly towards bankruptcy and their claims have been completely debunked Rob has offered an explanation, if not an apology, of his involvement in this sorry affair.
You can read Robs explanation here yourselves.
What he seems to be saying is that his primary motivation for supporting SCO is a dislike of Linux supporters who attacked one of his articles written at about the same time as the SCO saga kicked off. Despite having some doubts about SCOs claims he felt he needed to stick up for them because on the one hand he though Linux supporters were a bunch of criminals and on the other he thought Groklaw was misleading people and misrepresenting the facts surrounding the case.
Whats missing from the article is any apology at all from Mr Enderle for failing to research his subject and calling the result so wrongly or any apology to Groklaw who were clearly not misrepresenting anything and predicted the actual result of the case perfectly."
You can read Robs explanation here yourselves.
What he seems to be saying is that his primary motivation for supporting SCO is a dislike of Linux supporters who attacked one of his articles written at about the same time as the SCO saga kicked off. Despite having some doubts about SCOs claims he felt he needed to stick up for them because on the one hand he though Linux supporters were a bunch of criminals and on the other he thought Groklaw was misleading people and misrepresenting the facts surrounding the case.
Whats missing from the article is any apology at all from Mr Enderle for failing to research his subject and calling the result so wrongly or any apology to Groklaw who were clearly not misrepresenting anything and predicted the actual result of the case perfectly."
Google Calls For More Limits On Microsoft 270
teh_commodore writes "Scientific American is reporting that Google is now asking a Federal judge to extend the government's anti-trust oversight of Microsoft, specifically with regard to desktop search software. Microsoft had already agreed to modify Vista to allow rival desktop search engines, but Google says that this remedy will come too late — specifically, after (most of) the anti-trust agreement expires in November. What makes this political maneuver interesting is that Google went over the heads of the Department of Justice and US state regulators, who had found Microsoft's compromise acceptable, to appeal directly to the Federal judge overseeing the anti-trust settlement." Update: 06/26 17:20 GMT by KD : The judge is unwilling to play along with Google; she said she will likely defer to an agreement on desktop search forged between Microsoft and the plaintiffs in the case: i.e. Justice and the states.
Submission + - RIAA begins to accpt reality
cphilo writes: "The music industry is beginning to accept the inevitable — MP3 players are here to stay. They are beginning to adapt themselves to reality instead of expecting reality to adapt to them.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/26/business/media/2 6music.html?_r=1&th&emc=th&oref=slogin"
Submission + - UK "data rape" centres open tomorrow
An anonymous reader writes: 26th March, or ID-Day marks the opening of the first interrogation centres in the UK. Anyone applying for, or renewing a passport will have to surrender to data rape, fingerprinting, digitised face and iris scans.
All those who signed the official e-petition (propaganda mailing list) received an e-mail from Tony Blair, including reassurances that the database will go ahead and all its glorious biometric data will be fully open to fishing expeditions.
All those who signed the official e-petition (propaganda mailing list) received an e-mail from Tony Blair, including reassurances that the database will go ahead and all its glorious biometric data will be fully open to fishing expeditions.
