cirisme - Slashdot User

Comment Re:Just like the real world.... (Score 1) 353

by cirisme on Wednesday January 09, 2008 @06:35PM (#21976772) Attached to: SecondLife Bans Unregistered In-World Banks

That's not completely true. The US has a Fractional Reserve banking system that allows banks to create money out of thin air. The Federal Reserve controls the maximum amount that banks can create (based on the bank's current reserves), but banks are free to create anywhere from $0 to the max.

Shortcomings of OpenOffice and Working Around Them? 236

Posted by Cliff on Wednesday May 17, 2006 @09:55PM from the problems-and-fixes dept.

1mck asks: "Most free office software does the job, and after a hard drive failure, I decided to go MS Office free, so I'm trying out OpenOffice; however, I've noticed that there are a few deficiencies that I'm having a hard time getting around like the 'Shrink to fit' function, and also having PPS files open up directly in 'Presentation' mode rather than in the Edit' mode. Has any one else picked up on other deficiencies in OpenOffice? I realize that it is free, and it won't be as well featured as most purchased software, but when I went on the hunt for the workarounds at the OpenOffice forums, and on the web I've come up with very little to no information at all. Have I chosen the right free software, or would you suggest something else?" What minor irritations and shortcomings have you found in OpenOffice and how have you adjusted to (or worked around) them?

Budgeting for Layoffs? 186

Posted by Cliff on Saturday May 13, 2006 @06:30PM from the preparation-for-living-without-a-paycheck dept.

The Waxed Yak asks: "After reading the Slashdot tech worker unionization story, I started wondering: What are other IT workers doing to prepare for potential layoffs?"

Microkernel: The Comeback? 722

Posted by Hemos on Monday May 08, 2006 @09:07AM from the time-to-hash-this-out-all-again dept.

bariswheel writes "In a paper co-authored by the Microkernel Maestro Andrew Tanenbaum, the fragility of modern kernels are addressed: "Current operating systems have two characteristics that make them unreliable and insecure: They are huge and they have very poor fault isolation. The Linux kernel has more than 2.5 million lines of code; the Windows XP kernel is more than twice as large." Consider this analogy: "Modern ships have multiple compartments within the hull; if one compartment springs a leak, only that one is flooded, not the entire hull. Current operating systems are like ships before compartmentalization was invented: Every leak can sink the ship." Clearly one argument here is security and reliability has surpassed performance in terms of priorities. Let's see if our good friend Linus chimes in here; hopefully we'll have ourselves another friendly conversation."

MySQL to Adopt Solid Storage Engine 267

Posted by Zonk on Sunday April 16, 2006 @09:19PM from the solid-gone-baby dept.

hmart writes "As seen on ZDNet's Open Source Blog MySQL is taking another step to defend from Oracle's recent acquisitions of InnoBase and Sleepycat. From the article: 'MySQL responds by getting Solid Information Technology, a proprietary database vendor, to take its solidDB Storage Engine for MySQL open source, under the GPL, starting in June.'"

UK Parliament to be Made Redundant? 607

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on Wednesday March 22, 2006 @06:16PM from the politics-the-same-the-world-over dept.

caluml writes "The Guardian is reporting that the current UK government is trying to sneak a new law though in an innocuously named bill called 'The Legislative and Regulatory Reform Bill,' which would get rid of that pesky, interfering need to put laws to the Houses of Commons and Lords to approve. There is already the Parliament Act that can be used to force laws through, which was used recently for the hunting bill. " The original coverage is a bit old but the bill is still being tossed around in parliament. The text of the bill is also available via the UK Parliament website.

Beware Your Online Presence 677

Posted by Zonk on Sunday March 19, 2006 @06:21PM from the watch-what-you-put-out-there dept.

Mz6 wrote to mention an article in the NY Daily News stating that an increasing number of employers are Googling their prospective employees during the interview/hiring process. From the article: "'A friend of mine posted a picture of me on My Space with my eyes half closed and a caption that suggests I've smoked something illegal,' says Kluttz. While the caption was a joke, Kluttz now wonders whether the past two employers she interviewed with thought it was so funny. Both expressed interest in hiring Kluttz, but at the 11th hour went with someone else."

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