Hey guys, this is MR popping back in here.

My laptop died this week (viruses + Microsoft Security Essentials deleted important Windows files causing my laptop to be unable to boot). I need to reformat, but I don't have an installation CD for Windows.

No, I didn't pirate it. I got my laptop from university and it came with Windows preloaded. Now that I have graduated, I don't have access to tech support anymore so they can't fix it. It's supposed to be able to reinstall Windows from an internal image but that didn't work, instead leaving my hard drive partitioned into 3 parts with no OS installed.

So I'm stuck. I can shell out $250 for a new Windows 7 CD, antivirus software and Photoshop Elements, or I can try something else.

I don't use my laptop for games, just writing, powerpoint, reading PDFs, image editing, maybe some video editing, digital camera, web surfing, email, music, etc.

So to save a bundle of money I'm considering installing Ubuntu, which from what I have read can do all that I want it to do.

Has anyone else done this? How easy is it to use? How stable and secure is it? Works well with WiFi? I got an iPod too, I understand that one is tricky and I might lose access to DRM protected iTunes files. Any problems with compatibility with other machines?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WnzlbyTZsQY

Looks like AI taking control of the world is some ways off. 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1416262/Court-refuses-trial-by-combat.html

A court has rejected a 60-year-old man's attempt to invoke the ancient right to trial by combat, rather than pay a £25 fine for a minor motoring offence.

Leon Humphreys remained adamant yesterday that his right to fight a champion nominated by the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) was still valid under European human rights legislation. He said it would have been a "reasonable" way to settle the matter.

Magistrates sitting at Bury St Edmunds on Friday had disagreed and instead of accepting his offer to take on a clerk from Swansea with "samurai swords, Ghurka knives or heavy hammers", fined him £200 with £100 costs.

Humphreys, an unemployed mechanic, was taken to court after refusing to pay the original £25 fixed penalty for failing to notify the DVLA that his Suzuki motorcycle was off the road.

After entering a not guilty plea, he threw down his unconventional challenge. Humphreys, from Bury St Edmunds, said: "I was willing to fight a champion put up by the DVLA, but it would have been a fight to the death."

 

This video was so flat out sexy it deserved its own thread.

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=88e_1311160682

Enjoy

http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/europe/05/12/germany.demjanjuk.trial/index.html?hpt=T1

Germany, the only country where you get 5 years for being convicted on 27,900 counts of murder.

Granted, he'll probably be dead by then, but still...

http://www.cnn.com/2010/POLITICS/10/12/candidate.nazi.outfit/index.html?hpt=T2

"Congressional candidate defends wearing Nazi outfit for re-enactment"

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100807/ap_on_re_as/as_afghanistan

Remember, some of you cheer these militants:

KABUL, Afghanistan – Ten members of a medical team, including six Americans, were shot and killed by militants as they were returning from providing eye treatment and other health care in remote villages in northern Afghanistan, a spokesman for the team said Saturday.

Dirk Frans, director of the International Assistance Mission, said one German, one Briton and two Afghans also were part of the team that made the three-week trip to Nuristan province. They drove to the province, left their vehicles and hiked for hours with pack horses over mountainous terrain to reach the Parun valley in the province's northwest.

Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid told The Associated Press that they killed the foreigners because they were "spying for the Americans" and "preaching Christianity."

...

Among the dead was team leader Tom Little, an optometrist from Delmar, New York, who has been working in Afghanistan for more than 30 years, Frans said. Another relief organization, Bridge Afghanistan, said on its website that the group included one of its members, Dr. Karen Woo of London.

So I just finished watching the Czech WW2 film Dark Blue World. Great movie. Beautiful flying scenes. But I noticed in it that a recurring theme was that the British ground controllers were constantly annoyed by the Czech pilots using the radio for, shall we say, non-essential chatter. It factors into this great scene which ends with:

Ground Control: Good Work Spearhead Blue. But I'm afraid I'll have to report your number two for using the radio irresponsibly.
František Sláma: I'm afraid to report my number two will not be coming home.
Ground Control: Sorry to hear that.

Of course, the same theme occurs in the classic film Battle of Britain in which the British commanders complain about the Polish pilots chattering away on the radio. This plays a role in the brilliant "Repeat Please" scene where the Polish pilots pretend to not understand English orders and engage a flight of bombers.

So, my question is, was this really a problem? I can see how pilots would revert to their native language in stressful situations. But was there an actual issue with Polish and Czech pilots using the radio for chatter unrelated to flying and combat? If so, were there similar problems with British pilots, or is this some sort of difference in military culture? Or were the Polish and Czech pilots simply inexperienced in using radios and proper radio procedure? (Did P.11s and Avia B-534s even have radios as standard equipment?)