aputerguy - Slashdot User

Submission + - Anybody (other than Zune) have 1/1/09 crashes?

Submitted by

aputerguy

on Thursday January 01, 2009 @03:01PM

aputerguy writes: "My Fedora 8 Linux server crashed sometime between 18:59:40 EST (GMT -5:00) and 19:00:00 EST (GMT -5:00) on Dec 31, 2008 which remarkably corresponds to within at most 20 seconds of the New Year in GMT.

I have been running this same hardware non-stop for more than SIX YEARS and other than the occasional reboot for kernel (or distro) upgrades, it has not crashed more than 1 or 2 times in 2237 days of cumulative uptime. Nothing other than background processes were running at the time of the crash.

Could this be a coincidence or was there some 2008/2009 rollover issue going on here?

Has anyone (other than Zune 30GB owners http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/12/31/1428254) noticed similar year-end issues with their computers or electronic devices?"

Comment Re:CC and Myth... (Score 1) 448

by aputerguy on Monday May 21, 2007 @01:25PM (#19210413) Attached to: Windows Media Center Restricts Cable TV

What are you smoking?
### Setting up the guide subscription, and renewing it every few months (I'm told),
---> [Setup] Go to url, register, select zipcode, cable/satellite/OTA provider, check stations you want [5minutes?]
[Renewal] Every 3 months, you get a renewal email, click link, click "Extend my subscription", done [30 seconds]
Seems to me a lot easier, cheaper and faster than paying $12.95 each month (even with automatic payments)

### Recompile the kernel for a new feature
---> Haven't had to recompile a kernel since Slackware 1.0 or maybe Redhat 3.0.0.1 - more than 10 years ago

### need to hang on while the SQL database cleans itself
---> WTF are you talking about? This is utter nonsense. Sort of like saying, well you have to wait for the random logic turbolyzer to frobnicate the kryptonite-shielded holographic disk.

About the only valid point is your initial comment that setting up remotes can require tinkering but even this has gotten much easier with lirc packages.

Now I admit that MythTV may not be for anybody, but it is downright funny to hear Slashdot readers making up stuff like you do about the complexity. Sounds like you should be spending your time reading "computers for dummy" books rather than hanging out here on Slashdot.

Submission + - Will Yankees really win 110 games as per Slashdot?

Submitted by aputerguy on Sunday May 20, 2007 @08:31PM

aputerguy writes: Just a little over a month ago (April 5th), a story was posted to slashdot (http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/04/ 05/2259207) about how a "mathematician" at Rutgers had developed a model predicting that "the Yankees will win 110 games this year, a pretty safe bet, many might agree... He claims to be right more than wrong in five of the past six years."

Well the Yankees are off to an abysmal start with a record of 18 and 23 (http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/standings/index.jsp) for an average of 0.439, placing them in the bottom 8 teams in all of baseball.

To win 110 games, they would need to win 92 out of the next 121 games (0.760 percent). Doesn't take much of a mathematician to guess that not only won't they be winning 110 games this year but that they are unlikely to win even 95 total games. Perhaps we geeks of slashdots should leave the odds-making to Las Vegas!

Submission + - Digital Trash More Valuable Than Gold, Copper Ore

Submitted by

tcd004

on Sunday May 20, 2007 @08:11PM

tcd004 writes: "Imagine sheer mountains of discarded Pentium III's, tractor trailers overflowing with discarded wall warts. Photojournalist Natalie Behring visited Guiyu, China and documented the world's biggest digital dump where, for $2 per day, the locals sort, disassemble and pulverize hundreds of tons of e-waste. The payoff is huge: computer waste contains 17 times more gold than gold ore, 40 times more copper than copper ore. But the detritus also leaches chemicals and metals into local water supplies."

Submission + - GAO Study Contradicts Counterfeiting Claims

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 07, 2007 @09:38AM

An anonymous reader writes: A new study (pdf) from the U.S. General Accounting Office contains data confirming that claims about counterfeiting are massively overstated. Michael Geist notes that the report found that less than one percent of shipments entering the U.S. contained counterfeit goods, a far cry from the 5 to 7 percent of international trade that is often claimed.

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