Slashdot Mirror

The portion of the DoD most interested in maths achievements is the NSA, which employs more mathematicians than any other institution in the world (see e.g. Bamford's Body of Secrets ). So when the authors of this list talk about increasing the abilities of the DoD, they really mean increasing violation of privacy and harrasment of anyone thinking too freely.

Oh really?

http://www.randomhouse.com/modernlibrary/100bestnovels.html

#13 1984 George Orwell, all time according to this list.

http://www.usatoday.com/life/books/news/2008-01-16-top-100-books_N.htm

If you split up sci-fi and fantasy, then the first on this list is #16 Eclipse, a modern-day sci-fi story about vampires. If you keep them together, then Harry Potter would come in at #11; or for a "pure" sci-fi novel, I Am Legend comes in at #72 due to its re-release for the movie.

http://home.comcast.net/~antaylor1/waterstones100.html

Waterstone took a survey to find what people considered to be the 100 best novels of the past century; #1 is Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, #2 is Orwell's 1984 and #3 is Orwell's Animal Farm.

Finally, the current Amazon top 100:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/bestsellers/books

As of this writing, the current #1 in book sis Brisingr, a fantasy novel by Christopher Paulini; again, if you consider fantasy and sci-fi to be the same. If you don't, then #5 is Twilight is another vampire novel set in the modern day or #52 Anathem, is a "pure" sci-fi book.

So...which lists of best books or novels were you looking at?

...if you don't believe that a rulebook can be a piece of art, please see any of the published DND rulebooks. See amazon for case in point. I'm aware that wizards.com has the rulebook online as plain-jane; a large part of the reason that I buy DND rulebooks obsessively is because of the amazing artwork within. Truly recommended if you have not seen.

Buy Martin Fowler's Refactoring instead.

Remember that in Feathers' book "legacy" means not to have unit tests.

Refactoring starts with the assumption that unit tests are in place. The challenge with legacy code is that very often its current structure makes it impossible to write unit test for it. This book is about techniques of safely transforming untestable code to a form that is testable.

Only after that come actual unit tests, and after that refactoring.

All in all, the two books are complimentary.

Start by reading the developer documentation for the unit testing framework you are going to be using (junit for java, cppunit for c++, etc.)

Once you've mastered the basics of getting the framework installed and a basic test passing (e.g. assertTrue(true); ) check out xUnit test patterns. This book covers a lot of basic unit testing topics along with a number of things not to do while unit testing.

Buy Martin Fowler's Refactoring instead.

The best source is the Catechism of the Catholic Church, the official book of what is and isn't Catholic doctrine.

You might be surprised what you read in there. There are a lot of common misconceptions about Catholic belief (even among Catholics)

http://www.amazon.com/Catechism-Catholic-Church-Second-U-S/dp/0385508190/ref=pd_bbs_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1222670838&sr=8-1

ahem

Technology in education has a great deal of potential when you put a computer in each kids hands.

Computers don't change the intelligence of kids, but they may help their motivation.

You cannot educate a congenital idiot into being a genius. You can make him flip burgers faster however.

I think people are hoping that buying computers for kids is the "magic bullet" to somehow turn them all into middle-class level performers.

No scientific evidence exists that shows that will work.

Some useful research:

* The Blank Slate: The Modern Denial of Human Nature, by Stephen Pinker -- proves beyond a doubt that intelligence and personality are almost exclusively heritable.

* The Bell Curve, by Richard Herrnstein and Charles Murray -- although the portion about race attracted the most media attention, the real point of the book is that intelligence in populations follows a distribution curve so that only a few are actually all that smart.

You can see why people go into "cognitive dissonance" when they see this evidence. We all like to think we can be anyone we want to be. But just like few are as handsome as Paul Newman, few are smart enough to achieve the kind of results that are desired.

Just as only one out of 100,000 has the talent to be an engineer or an acrobat, only a few are those truly capable of managing the matters of a nation or mankind as a whole.
Pentti Linkola

Technology in education has a great deal of potential when you put a computer in each kids hands.

Computers don't change the intelligence of kids, but they may help their motivation.

You cannot educate a congenital idiot into being a genius. You can make him flip burgers faster however.

I think people are hoping that buying computers for kids is the "magic bullet" to somehow turn them all into middle-class level performers.

No scientific evidence exists that shows that will work.

Some useful research:

* The Blank Slate: The Modern Denial of Human Nature, by Stephen Pinker -- proves beyond a doubt that intelligence and personality are almost exclusively heritable.

* The Bell Curve, by Richard Herrnstein and Charles Murray -- although the portion about race attracted the most media attention, the real point of the book is that intelligence in populations follows a distribution curve so that only a few are actually all that smart.

You can see why people go into "cognitive dissonance" when they see this evidence. We all like to think we can be anyone we want to be. But just like few are as handsome as Paul Newman, few are smart enough to achieve the kind of results that are desired.

Just as only one out of 100,000 has the talent to be an engineer or an acrobat, only a few are those truly capable of managing the matters of a nation or mankind as a whole.
Pentti Linkola

At least the question would be a little closer to the truth if it had been apes instead of monkeys, although of course it would still be incorrect.

Tao apparently really is the head of the Temple University physics department. He is the author of "Electrorheological Fluids: Mechanisms, Properties, Technology, and Applications", which is relevant, because electrorheological fluids are ones where the viscosity and shear stress change when an electric field is applied. This effect is sometimes used for specialized clutches; attempts to make robot muscles using it have been tried, which is why I know about it. So he ought to know something about viscosity changes in an electric field.

This is his second attempt to come up with a mainstream application for this marginally useful physical effect. The last one, in 2006, was a scheme for treating crude oil to reduce viscosity for pumping. Tests indicated it required more energy to reduce the viscosity than it saved in pumping.

This effect only works on liquids which carry along particles of a different substance; it won't do anything for a homogeneous pure liquid. So it's unlikely to do anything for gasoline. Diesel, maybe; #2 diesel fuel is a mixture of a broad range of hydrocarbons.

There's a whole industry selling Diesel fuel treatment additives. Unlike gasoline additives, which are mostly bogus, Diesel additives sometimes have some value, because there are various impurities which can appear in Diesel fuel and cause trouble. Also, since many large Diesel fuel users store fuel for long periods, deterioration in storage is a problem, and so there's a real role for additives there.

Because Diesel fuel is so variable, any tests involving it have to be coupled with lab tests to find out what was in the batch of fuel being tested. Was that done here?

Very, very excellent way to completely fail on all things logical.

Everything you have to say is shot down by this very simple and very obvious little bit here:

causing the existence of a universe that is so fine-tuned to the very existence of life

Other way around, chap. Life is fine-tuned to the characteristics of the universe. That's kinda the idea behind evolution, and also the only logical conclusion to the question regarding the existence of life in the first place.

Your argument is complete logical fallacy. Perhaps you should read some books about how to actually reach conclusions which fit the facts. You would *really* benefit from this practice.

http://www.amazon.com/Crimes-Against-Logic-Politicians-Journalists/dp/0071446435

Do you know John McCain's economic advisor?

Carly Fiorina isn't his only great adviser. He also has Kevin "Dow 36000" Hassett and Phil "Let's explicitly disallow regulation of credit default swaps" Gramm.

Of course, there's also Donald Luskin, who doesn't have any total calamities to his name, but he does appear to be mildly retarded. Aurthur Laffer is another notable. I'm not sure what he has been doing lately, but he appears to still believe in his namesake curve. Not a good sign.

If you don't care how much you pay, Denon makes a decent Ethernet cable at a Rolls Royce price:

http://www.usa.denon.com/ProductDetails/3429.asp

Check out the Amazon reviews!

http://www.amazon.com/review/product/B000I1X6PM/ref=dp_top_cm_cr_acr_txt/105-8770533-9603641?%5Fencoding=UTF8&showViewpoints=1

Larman's "Applying UML and Patterns" is a good introduction to object oriented programming.

Dangerous advice. You should ignore anything until you understand the need for it. There are too many software engineering methods that sound like really good ideas but must be applied judiciously because they're only worthwhile under certain circumstances. If there's a Dark Side to the art of programming, it's the way of Impressiveness: using techniques that sound progressive and responsible, without thinking hard about their true cost and true value.

UML is a great example of something that is presented as a Good Thing that programmers never use enough of, just like kids never eat enough broccoli. In reality, there's a proper amount of UML to use on every project, and on most projects it's zero. (And in reality, you really don't want to sit near a guy who eats a pound of broccoli a day.) Teaching UML in an introductory OO book is irresponsible -- the value of UML only emerges in circumstances that the readers can't appreciate yet, so you have to lie to them about its domain of usefulness.

Design patterns are a borderline case. I wouldn't recommend them for a brand-new coder, but if you're already experienced, you'll understand the need for some of them right away. Others might be a mystery for years until you see, in a real life project, a situation where they apply. Just don't be the guy who adds Visitor patterns and Mediator patterns in places where they don't make sense and don't contribute anything to the subsequent evolution of the code.

Read all you want, but be somewhat closed-minded and only use things that you really understand the need for.

A great book if you know C++ is The C++ Programming Language . Stroustrup talks about the cost of everything and warns against misusing language features. He's a great person to absorb your programming philosophy from, because he teaches that every language feature and programming technique ever invented can be counterproductive in the wrong context.

You should expect this from every author, and when you sense that an author is taking a one-sided approach to his subject matter, advocating something or trying to get you excited about it instead of explaining when it is good and when it is bad, then you should put it down and avoid polluting your brain.

Incidentally, this means you will have to be very selective when reading about Java, .NET, or any other technology where people are trying to drive adoption. Enterprise technologies are especially problematic because the best technical publications often come from vendors or consultants, but you have to be extremely skeptical when consuming those publications because they are designed to give you a somewhat-less-than-objective enthusiasm.

With some technologies (*cough* Microsoft *cough*) boosterism has become the customary writing style, even among people who have no financial stake in the technology. Some readers expect an injection of enthusiasm every time they pick up a book. Don't be a sucker -- those guys are clowns, and everyone hates working with them.

I read a pretty good book on this. I think this is the updated version.

It turns out that presidential campaigns in the USA have always been as nasty as they are today. Some were nastier. I guess human nature hasn't changed a lot in 220 years.

NextSTEP created Objective-C for their OS and API (which became Cocoa later on). So, it's not uncommon per se, it's merely created for that purpose. Although you can code on Windows with Objective-C (since gcc supports it on all platforms), without Cocoa it wouldn't be a seamless adventure. TBH I'd be surprise if anyone does any serious works with it outside of anything apple-related.

I develop with iPhone and OSX everyday and I agree Objective-C is a beautiful and well-designed language, but most of the fantastic experience of using it comes from the API part, not the language by itself.

Correction: Brad J. Cox Founder of Productivity Products International created Objective-C.

Object-oriented Programming: An Evolutionary Approach, by Brad J. Cox.

Brad later co-founded Stepstone and NeXT eventually bought all rights to Objective-C as they developed their own version, based on Brad's works.

Brad J. Cox's current info: http://www.virtualschool.edu/cox/

The self-documenting approach to coding that Objective-C inherits from Smalltalk makes for understanding what the hell is going on, by design, more rapidly than traditional C++ jargon. Of course, for every single book on Objective-C/Cocoa there are one hundred C++ or Java tombs. Somehow, the sheer volume of repeated books has helped reinforce in the minds of those never programming in Objective-C that it's some quasi-exotic language that no one ever uses. That's changing in a large way. As the growth of OS X 10.6 and beyond becomes apparent, so will the growth of books published and developers exposure to both help learn and evolve the language where it makes sense.

Quite a bit of Java's design was grafted from ObjC, yet that C++ syntax of Java somehow gives people the notion it's a derivative of C++ alone.

Regarding the Frameworks of Cocoa and without them the language wouldn't be so elogant. The same is true for all programming languages. Without Trolltech Qt's Libraries C++ wouldnt' be so elogant. Without the overkill of solutions within Java the Java language wouldn't have become the Server-side standard. So on and so forth.

I recently read about a concept called Results-Only Work Environment (or ROWE for short) in a book called Why Work Sucks by Cali Ressler and Jodi Thompson. The book is about a programme they implemented at Best Buy's corporate headquarters which lets people only be judged on results, not time.

They did away with schedules, compulsory meetings etc. and it let them weed out people who accomplished nothing, whilst allowing everyone else take control of their own time. In other words, to bring it back to the article, they suggest that ALL time is personal - it doesn't matter how you do it, provided you get what you need to done on time. Staff retention, motivation and productivity went through the roof because of it. Unfortunately most workplaces aren't willing to treat their employees like adults so the idea is not exactly widespread (yet).

The page you linked to was just a search on Amazon. The first link is the Silver Sensor, and if you read the reviews, while most people like it, it does not get as high as ratings as other antennas. In fact, the very first review on the page, the guy, who lived about 25 miles from Manhatten and had issues with signals being deflected and such, recommended this antenna. Makes sense, a good set of rabbit ears (those directional antennas are crap, I have tried one before, they do not work as well as a good set of rabbit ears) with a strong amplifier should really enhance the signal, as long as you are actually amplifying the signal and not noise.

If you believe an Iraqi Air Force general.

Of course, only Fox News interviewed him, so maybe that's why Fox viewers think Saddam had WMD.

Well in this case it is EA who are stealing your copyright. Your right to sell the copyright licence you paid, bored with then game, EA are trying to steal your ability to sell it to someone else in the second hand market, exactly how disingenuous is this amazon web page http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B000FKBCX4/sr=/qid=/ref=olp_tab_used?ie=UTF8&coliid=&me=&qid=&sr=&seller=&colid=&condition=used.

As EA does not clearly indicate the limitations they enforce on resale on the cover, they should be subject to a class action law suit and pay the penalty.

Exactly what I was gonna say (but you beat me to it). $65 cables just to transfer to my PC? No thanks! And picture mail at $$$$/apiece? What's the point? I would actually like it if I had a phone with a decent camera that I could transfer via USB, but the cell companies see the extras as a profit center so they lock down everything and charge for it. Sad...

And this is why we need some kind of intervention. If you were a business CEO and had a (mostly) captive market, you'd see the gleaming $$$$ and do the same lock down to drive more profits to your business. The intervention options vary from the extreme of outlawing this, to the simpler and more desirable increase of competition. I prefer the latter solution (more competition) because it leaves things more flexible for everyone, while providing the incentive to do things consumers want. Some smaller competitor would try to get a bigger share by offering phones that include free ways to transfer to your own computer using standardized USB cable, or an extra memory card slot for something like a micro-SD card.

Another intervention I would support is a requirement that all phone manufacturers must make all phone models available on a full-price totally-unlocked basis through the retailers willing to sell that way. There obviously are such retailers, as the subset of models that are available this way have quite many retailers selling them (even big retailers like Amazon). Then the discounting that phone service providers offer can still be offered for those that prefer to not pay the full price up front, and even a reduced price overall, for using their service.

Despite the carpet-bombing it received - Spore is #2 in PC games at Amazon.com. Spore Galactic Edition #18 and Creature Creator #21.

The DRM free Sins of a Solar Empire is #439 [in video games]Bestsellers in PC Games [ 5 PM ET Sept 24]

The core market for games like The Sims and Spore is not geek. The geek is outnumbered here. He is all hat and no cattle.

Sanya Reid Smith is backed up by Ha-Joon Chan, a "Reader in the Political Economy of Development" at Cambridge (do your credentials match)?

In his book Bad Samaritans: The Myth of Free Trade and the Secret History of Capitalism (which I've read in dead tree form, and thus cannot produce quotes) he backs up Sanya Reid Smith in stating that many countries did not allow drug patents until the 1960's and 1970's (including Canada, Switzerland, etc).

[Quote]It is simple; the loss in royalties is far outweighed by the benefits to the local economy.[/Quote]

This has to be the most ridiculous statment typed with a straight face that I've seen on Slashdot in years. Tell me - what patents library do the multinationals based in Zambia hold? Equador? Bangladesh? For developing countries, patents mean an outflow of money, not an influx.

[Quote]There is a reason that every nation on the planet that has any serious intent to become developed adopts some sort of patent system[/Quote]

You have it backwards (which, considering the quality of the rest of your "reasoning", makes it one of your better argued points). Developed countries implement patent systems once they have something to protect. You don't put expensive alarm systems on mud huts.

It's obvious that you don't understand how 90% of the world lives - your viewpoint is overwhelmed by your economic priviledge.

I will seek out Clean Code and take a look at it. But I'd like to take this opportunity to plug a classic favorite of mine.

The Elements of Programming Style by Kernighan and Plauger is an old book... so old that all its examples are in either Fortran or PL/I. It doesn't matter. They take examples of code, ruthlessly dissect each one, then rewrite each one; and in every case, their rewritten version is hugely improved. Then they present a rule that encapsulates what they did to improve the example. Their writing is clear, insightful, and entertaining. This is a book that I pull out again and again and re-read.

http://www.amazon.com/Elements-Programming-Style-Brian-Kernighan/dp/0070342075/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1222277636&sr=1-2

steveha

In this story a superconducting supercollider had a similar accident, although the results were much different. Good read.

Try the Silver Sensor Antenna for UHF reception. It's cheap and widely reputed to be the best indoor HD antenna out there. Digital TV reception is very directional though, you will have to play around on it and you might have to get several antennas hooked together to get all your channels depending on where you live.

NOW!
because you've *already* been severed, in their minds.

--

If you want to convert leverage to being more on real-worth's side, you need this wonderful gem:
http://www.amazon.com/Feiner-Points-Leadership-People-Perform/dp/0446695750/
Whether you're committed to *making* your workplace work better, or whether you're committed only to making your life be more owned by you, it's worth very very much.

This one, however, is innervating, motivating, damn near thrilling, to a geek:
http://www.amazon.com/Corps-Business-Management-Principles-Marines/dp/0066619793/
Rules like
"Tell 'em the End State, Tell 'em WHY,
and get the hell out of their hair & let 'em do it their own way!"

or
"Find the ESSENCE"
if you haven't found the essence, of either your present situation, or of your answer, you aren't dealing with the deep reality, only the surface-details.
Finding the Essence is very very important.

or
"Orient to CAPABILITY"
most companies orient to products, or to services, or to silos, but orienting to capability means WTSHTFan, you *can* adapt, and that leaves the others ( competitors, opponents ) broken...

That rule changed the way I live my life, actually.

Good Luck, Keep on keepin' on, and NEVER give up! :)

    Captain Fairly-Obvious(tm)

NOW!
because you've *already* been severed, in their minds.

--

If you want to convert leverage to being more on real-worth's side, you need this wonderful gem:
http://www.amazon.com/Feiner-Points-Leadership-People-Perform/dp/0446695750/
Whether you're committed to *making* your workplace work better, or whether you're committed only to making your life be more owned by you, it's worth very very much.

This one, however, is innervating, motivating, damn near thrilling, to a geek:
http://www.amazon.com/Corps-Business-Management-Principles-Marines/dp/0066619793/
Rules like
"Tell 'em the End State, Tell 'em WHY,
and get the hell out of their hair & let 'em do it their own way!"

or
"Find the ESSENCE"
if you haven't found the essence, of either your present situation, or of your answer, you aren't dealing with the deep reality, only the surface-details.
Finding the Essence is very very important.

or
"Orient to CAPABILITY"
most companies orient to products, or to services, or to silos, but orienting to capability means WTSHTFan, you *can* adapt, and that leaves the others ( competitors, opponents ) broken...

That rule changed the way I live my life, actually.

Good Luck, Keep on keepin' on, and NEVER give up! :)

    Captain Fairly-Obvious(tm)

This is the first time in quite a few years that I've heard someone mention the (defunct) Amazon Auctions service as if it were active.

Not having heard Amazon's auction was defunct I googled it and found this "Amazon vs. eBay: Battle of the Online Auctions" from 31 January 2008. It was the third result out of more than 3 million. Restricting the search to just the past month still results in about 137,000. E-Commerce News published the article "Online Auctions, Part 1: The eBay Earthquake" on 9 September. In it there's this: "By restructuring its fees, eBay is likely attempting to ratchet up its competitiveness with Amazon.com (Nasdaq: AMZN) Latest News about Amazon.com, which has no listing fees." So they didn't know Amazon went defunct either. Also in the ad area to the right there's an ad for Amazon Auctions, now why would Amazon be buying add for a service that doesn't exist anymore?

On the other hand, I don't see auctions listed on Amazon, so maybe it's only been recently that Amazon stopped auctioning. What I find ironic if true is that the first result searching Amazon for auction is "How to Sell Anything on Amazon...and Make a Fortune!".

Falcon

This is the first time in quite a few years that I've heard someone mention the (defunct) Amazon Auctions service as if it were active.

Not having heard Amazon's auction was defunct I googled it and found this "Amazon vs. eBay: Battle of the Online Auctions" from 31 January 2008. It was the third result out of more than 3 million. Restricting the search to just the past month still results in about 137,000. E-Commerce News published the article "Online Auctions, Part 1: The eBay Earthquake" on 9 September. In it there's this: "By restructuring its fees, eBay is likely attempting to ratchet up its competitiveness with Amazon.com (Nasdaq: AMZN) Latest News about Amazon.com, which has no listing fees." So they didn't know Amazon went defunct either. Also in the ad area to the right there's an ad for Amazon Auctions, now why would Amazon be buying add for a service that doesn't exist anymore?

On the other hand, I don't see auctions listed on Amazon, so maybe it's only been recently that Amazon stopped auctioning. What I find ironic if true is that the first result searching Amazon for auction is "How to Sell Anything on Amazon...and Make a Fortune!".

Falcon

You should try a Motofone F3. It's a phone with a black and white eInk screen that's almost indestructible and costs $35. It has a huge battery life due to the screen, and it doesn't have any useless features.

http://www.amazon.com/Motorola-Motofone-F3-Unlocked-Phone-International/dp/B0013A7KMW/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=wireless&qid=1222198605&sr=8-1
Motorola F3. $35. B/W e-ink screen. No bells, no whistles.

In fact, probably the best thing that can be said about it, is that it copied WoW shamelessly.

WoW copied EQ (which copied Diku MUD) game mechanics shamelessly. Warcraft (1995) copied Warhammer (1983) look and feel shamelessly.

I play with it for a bit, and, being the altaholic that I am, figure out I'll see if there's an equivalent on the Order side. I need to go to another server for that, though, and honestly I have no problem with that.

When I played WoW this is exactly how it worked.

But that's ok, because it has a column in the server list which says how many characters you have on a server. And an option to sort by it. So finding the server should be a two second affair, right? Wrong, because it's non-functional and says 0 for all servers.

This appears to a complete falsehood. The feature works correctly for me.

Next day is Saturday and I wake up fresh and ready to resume my career, except the server I was on is down, together with two other European servers. It wasn't announced maintenance or anything, and unlike Blizzard they can't be arsed to put such announcements on the game's first screen.

I think you need to review how the WoW launch went. Also the login screen has been telling what is down, why, and ETA for weeks.

Essentially the first batch of quests, including the first enemies you have to fight, happen inside a 20ft by 20ft square. That's right, there are enemies less than 10ft from where you start. When you've finished them and are ready to move to the next group of quest givers, you're sent a whole... 100 ft away to meet them. It's so cramped that it made me feel claustrophobic, and that's not an easy thing to achieve.

If it weren't packed you'd be complaining that with the huge influx of people there wasn't enough to kill.

Another thing that makes me... wonder, is that, for example, on the Empire side I progressed to chapter _three_ already in the WoW space equivalent of running from Anvilmar (the dwarven newbie area) to Karanos. Actually, maybe a little less than that. Do they have some 50 chapters, or is the game world that small?

I don't understand. Are you complaining that you don't waste time running places? Space is good but only if used. What's the point of making newbs run long distances? Do you think the flight masters teleporting you is bad to? I commute to work I have no urge to commute in game.

Eventually the old server is up, and... What. The. Bloody. Fuck? It had been turned into an Open PvP server. (Ok, ok, RvR.) Just like that. Without asking, without giving a fuck about people already playing there, without even an offer to move my characters somewhere else.

Again this is a false hood. It's a PEBKAC. The user picked the wrong server.

And I discover an old WoW bug, like I had found an old friend again. Lag at times is horrible.

This just in: The internet has lag!

At any rate, there is no special marking, no swirly red portal, no "here be PvP" sign, no special marking even on the map. It's just still the same road I'm running along. And suddenly comes a message in the centre of my screen that I entered an open RvR area, and will be flagged for RvR in 6 seconds. Five. Four. Three. Two. One. Flagged RvR.

Now the six seconds warning is stupidly tight anyway,

This is an outright lie. The areas are clearly marked on the map. The timer is 10 seconds. More than sufficient to turn around and take 3 steps back to cancel it.

"Can anyone recommend a movie - that when you watch it on blu-ray you say "awesome ... that was worth it!"

Planet Earth It is an AMAZING series and is glorious in HD. The Video is stunning, and has many jaw dropping moments / scenes. I would hightly recommend the BluRay (or HD-DVD as they are from the same master) over the DVD. As a point of comparison I linked the Amazon search so you could see the "Premium" that's charged on a new set is $4. (Used on the other hand has a much larger gap).

There are, however, a lot of good shows coming out on Blu-Ray, for example LOST.

The Planet Earth series is absolutely amazing in HD.

Yeah, when will the studios release more movies like The Godfather , Taxi Driver , or A Clockwork Orange ?

Yeah, when will the studios release more movies like The Godfather , Taxi Driver , or A Clockwork Orange ?

Yeah, when will the studios release more movies like The Godfather , Taxi Driver , or A Clockwork Orange ?

http://www.amazon.com/Mega-Man-Anniversary-Collection-Playstation-2/dp/B00019HNNC
Aaah, if there's a space after url: before the http part... it messes up.

Amazon allows unlimited downloads of purchased music.

Amazon seems to disagree:

Can I download another copy of my MP3 files after the initial purchase?
Your Amazon MP3 Music purchases can only be downloaded once. After you have successfully downloaded the file to your computer at the time of purchase, we recommend that you create a backup copy.

We are currently unable to replace any purchased files that you delete or lose due to a system or disk error. If you encounter a problem with an MP3 file immediately after purchase, please click the Customer Service button in the Contact Us box in the right-hand column of this page so we can determine how to help you.

If you've re-downloaded files from Amazon, was there an automated method or did you have to contact their customer service?
The iTunes Store will also let you re-download files — if you email customer service — but most people would prefer a more streamlined system.

Funding public education is one of the few things that makes competition fair between both rich and poor students. You believe that poor behavior of other students shouldn't detract from your child's education, and rightly so. What I can't believe is that in the same breath you talk about the right to take away someone else's child's opportunity to be educated.

The two are related. I didn't say I wanted to take away the opportunity. I want to take away the blown opportunity for kids who want to act up, get bad grades, and be fuck-ups. Appreciate the generosity of the taxpayers, and stay in school. Be an asshole, and lose your school privileges! Right now, it is public school kids who have the sense of entitlement, "fuck you teacher, it is my right to be here!" And that is backed up by many parents, who think they are paying taxes for their schools, when they probably are not (upper middle class and the rich pay most of the taxes). I assure you I never had that attitude in private school, because my ass would be thrown out the door.

How selfish and greedy can you get?

When the government puts a gun to my head and steals my money and wastes it, pretty goddamned selfish and greedy.

The sad part is that I bet you're proud of this misguided attitude toward your fellow man. I hope your child has the wisdom to see past your bigotry.

So now not wanting my increasing taxes wasted in a failing public school system ("just give us more money and this time it will work!") constitutes "bigotry." Wow. Dude, compulsory government redistribution of wealth is not a noble act. Robin Hood was not an altruist.

Just keep in mind that it is conservatives, not liberals, who give the most money to charity. We just think that the private sector and private choice does a better job of determining what is "fair." Which is why we conservatives like school vouchers.

the number of speakers are irrelevant to quality of music. let me briefly explain :

you need different ranges assigned to different speakers that can give out that frequencies. but, there has to be more of the same speakers assigned to a particular frequency range - lets say, you got a certain size of tweeter. if there are 4 of this, and you divide a small incremental range of high frequency sound to four of these in small increments, you'll have, say, seperated two sopranos' (each soprano will have differences in their frequencies, even if minute and hardly identifiable by human ear) voices to two tweeters of the SAME kind, but while playing these two sopranos' voices, each of their voices will come from the different tweeters. this will increase the distinctiveness of each sound. here, the quality of the tweeters matter VERY much.

just like tweeters, if you have many mid range speakers to assign incremental frequencies, the clarity of sound will increase.

people generally err in that if there are 5.1 speakers, or 7.1, you can do more of that, because there are more speakers - that is not the case. in almost all 4.1 and more speaker systems, the satellite speakers generally come with the same size, therefore being able to effect efficient and clear playback of a certain frequency range. whereas it is good for positioning through different channels through software, it is bad for music quality and sound clarity - because you will have to play a broader frequency range from that speakers.

also, positioning does not matter much when playing music - think - how many times were you able to sit in the middle of a symphony orchestra, or a rock band in concert, and listen to music ?

not only you cant, but also it doesnt make any sense - human ears are directional - you wont be able to hear the sounds coming from the back as distinctively and clearly as the ones coming from an angle from the front.

that is why all music concerts, gigs, playback and whatnot are done in front of the audience.

a stereo setup correctly reproduces that positioning. ie - your hearing field is like a letter 'V' while listening to a concert, your head, field of hearing starting from the bottom end of the V, and the arrayed speakers of the concert setup being placed in upper tips of the V.

in concerts array speakers are used. if you paid attention, there are a lot of speakers positioned in the same place to the right, and left of the stage, on top of each other. this creates a sound stage that encompasses you.

this concept was a niche concept in which only audiophiles knew and were able to use. because mainstream stereo producers were just skipping by it. we didnt have any chance of listening to such stuff on a pc speaker set at all. however altec lansing made a good entry with such a product a while ago, and it changed the way all the speaker system producers designed the speaker sets. see altec lansing fx 6021 here : http://www.alteclansing.com/index.php?file=north_product_detail&iproduct_id=fx6021 notice the 'in concert' technology, and notice how similar speakers are arrayed on top of each other. Read people's thoughts on this thing here : http://www.amazon.com/Altec-Lansing-FX6021-Speaker-System/dp/B0001EMLXE

this thing, is supposedly a pc speaker set. it should be nothing significant. but, when i bought this, it totally ousted my full deck pioneer stereo with $700 speakers each. i stopped listening to anything else.

one of my friends took this choice lightly, and went for a X.1 system from a known manufacturer, but after a while he decided to get the 6021, but he wasnt able to get one because it was out of stock. he is still looking for one since then, and its on the top of his list. he spends $350 on motherboards alone, when doing an upgrade.

Liberal nazis who censor things by deleting them. Deleted Wikipedia articles usually end up on Uncyclopedia and get made into funny articles that are more factual than the articles on Wikipedia that are not deleted. No offense to modern liberals or classic liberals who are nothing like liberal nazis. Barack Obama is a John F. Kennedy modern liberal and not at all like the liberal nazis that hacked Sarah Palin's email, or liberal nazis on MSNBC, NPR, PBS, Moveon.org, or blogs that do personal attacks and political smears. Not all liberals are nazis, but some if not all of the admins on Wikipedia appear to be. Uncyclopedia is liberal nazi free, just modern liberals, classic liberals, anarchists, communists, libertarians, moderates, conservatives, neocons, independents, and others who join together to write funny, but not stupid, articles. Liberal nazis usually get banned at Uncyclopedia, or we make funny articles about them instead if they keep coming back with web proxies.

At least they aren't Conservapedia the Conservative Wiki that only Neocons can edit.

Read Wikitruth for the reasons why many of us don't want to use Wikipedia anymore. Even a humor Wiki like Uncyclopedia is managed way better than Wikipedia ever will be, and we are all volunteers who do work for free.

The Uncyclopedia article was deleted and put back many times as well on Wikipedia. Apparently Jimbo and the sockpuppet Admins think we aren't notable enough to have an article on us.

or get picopad from amazon. its the size of a credit card and pen for doing quickie notes.

picopad

The $399.99 80GB PS3 includes one DualShock 3 controller (a $45.99 value) and a composite cable (the same cable most all PlayStations have traditionally come with).

Although not necessary by any means, if you're lucky enough to own an HDTV, you can splurge $3.19 on an HDMI cable. If your HDTV only has component video, that cable is just $5.27 plus shipping.

Additional controllers (also not necessary) can be had for anywhere from $10-$40 for third-party, or $45.99 for first-party.

Depending on where you live, it's free shipping and no taxes for the PS3, game, and controller on Amazon. Minimal shipping for the cable(s) from Monoprice if you need them.

The $399.99 80GB PS3 includes one DualShock 3 controller (a $45.99 value) and a composite cable (the same cable most all PlayStations have traditionally come with).

Although not necessary by any means, if you're lucky enough to own an HDTV, you can splurge $3.19 on an HDMI cable. If your HDTV only has component video, that cable is just $5.27 plus shipping.

Additional controllers (also not necessary) can be had for anywhere from $10-$40 for third-party, or $45.99 for first-party.

Depending on where you live, it's free shipping and no taxes for the PS3, game, and controller on Amazon. Minimal shipping for the cable(s) from Monoprice if you need them.

The PC game that sells for $60 today will be steeply discounted tomorrow.

Far Cry $6.

Impatience and greed do not excuse theft.

The hardware requirements for Far Cry were not low end in 2004.

Which raises the interesting question of how your impecunious student or working mum was able to scrounge up the hardware needed to play it.

Eight of the top twenty-five Best Sellers in PC games at Amazon.com are pre-release.

Titles like Wrath of the Lich King and Fallout 3.