Domain: pipex.com
Stories and comments across the archive that link to pipex.com.
Comments · 203
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Brown Noise
Did Your Code Ever Make Anyone Deaf?
No, but I have written an IE exploit that can make your computer emit the Brown Noise and you'll shit your pants.
Sincerely,
Eric Cartman
"All things are marklar." -
Theme songall together now...
come sail away
come sail away
Come sail away with me -
Re:Ironic...
I don't know what the law in the States is like, but in the UK, these people make out a good case for slot machines being rigged. In brief, they use an emulator which will run fruit machine code, allowing you to play until you get a gamble, lose, go back to the saved machine state before the gamble, choose the alternative option and... lose again!
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Re:Ironic...
I don't know what the law in the States is like, but in the UK, these people make out a good case for slot machines being rigged. In brief, they use an emulator which will run fruit machine code, allowing you to play until you get a gamble, lose, go back to the saved machine state before the gamble, choose the alternative option and... lose again!
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Re:stop-gap
Hyper-focus? I have no idea what you mean. I simply made note of apparent misunderstanding on your part and then used that to question the validity of your conclusion. Perhaps you're being a little hyper-sensative?
By the way, just to be clear. After much study and thought I have found that there is no perfectly safe, or even acceptably safe method of building nuclear power plants on earth.
I do agree designs are better. Are they perfect? Hardly. Every engineer will tell you there's no such thing as a perfect system. For example, the nuclear power industry tried quite hard from the get go to build "safe" reactors, Here is the result:
http://www.nuclearfiles.org/hitimeline/nwa/index.h tml
http://www.ieer.org/reports/accident.html
http://www.ccnr.org/CANDU_Safety.html
http://www.lbl.gov/nsd/education/ABC/wallchart/cha pters/15/7.html
http://dspace.dial.pipex.com/cndscot/trisaf/ch4.ht m
http://www.clemson.edu/ep/radiat3.htm
http://www.sea-us.org.au/no2reactor/rr-oops.html
Once you've read through as many studies on operator error in control rooms as I have, then we can talk. In the interm, perhaps you should trust me when I say, it can't safely be done.
As well, the economics are not as good as you've been led to believe. See:
Nuclear Power is Uneconomical
Since its beginning, nuclear power has cost this country over $492,000,000,000 -- nearly twice the cost of the Viet Nam War and the Apollo Moon Missions combined. In return for this investment, we have an energy source that, until the mid-1980's, gave us less energy in this country than did the burning of firewood! In the U.S., nuclear power contributes only 20-22% of our electricity, and only 8-10% of our total energy consumption. In Illinois these percentages are much greater due to Commonwealth Edison's over-reliance on nuclear power.
Since 1950, nuclear power has received over $97,000,000,000 in direct and indirect subsidies from the federal government, such as deferred taxes, artificially low limits on liability in case of nuclear accidents, and fuel fabrication write-offs. No other industry has enjoyed such privilege.
According to a recent study conducted by the Citizens Utility Board, Commonwealth Edison's customers now pay the highest electric bills in the Midwest, due primarily to the over-reliance on nuclear power plants.
Many costs for nuclear power have been deliberately underestimated by government and industry such as the costs for the permanent disposal of nuclear wastes, the "decommissioning" (shutting-down and cleaning-up) of retired nuclear power plants, and nuclear accident consequences. In January, 1994, Commonwealth Edison acknowledged that it had to nearly double its estimate for reactor decommissioning -- from $2.3 billion to as much as $4.1 billion!
http://www.neis.org/literature/Brochures/npfacts.h tm -
Re:Good job ESA
Sorry, but light speed, or anything near light speed, just isn't going to happen anytime soon.
Odd as it may seem, "something near it" isn't that big of a problem. What we need is lots and lots of antimatter, and working engines that use it. Now here's the difficulty: where do we get the antimatter from? We believe we can make as much as we need, if we just had enough power. Unfortunately, with a efficiency conversion of 0.01% (i.e. for every megajoule you put in, you get 100 joules worth of anitmatter.), we just don't have the power reserves here on Earth to create enough. What would be nice is if we had a super-powerful fusion reactor that could run for billions of years without maintenance. Now where are we going to find one of those...
Did you know that the Earth receives about 1.3kw per square meter from the Sun? If I did my calculations right, a station placed at about 0.1 au should receive about 1,387kw per square meter. If we were to construct a station with a power collecting surface the size of a football field (109.73m x 48.78m = 5,352m^2), it would receive about 7.4gw of power from the sun.
First we must assume that there is some loss in the power conversion method. Let's say the first station uses primitive solar panels with an efficiency of 20%. That leaves us with 1.4gw of power. Assuming that the station had the facilities necessary to transform all that power into antimatter, it would be capable of producing 148kw of antimatter per second, or about 12.8gw worth of antimatter per day! If more than one station was built, then antimatter production could be high enough to regularly send ships to Alpha Centauri.
Using this calculator, we find that at 1G of acceleration, we could reach 99% of light speed (relative to Earth) in about a year of acceleration. In that time, our ship would have traveled about .22 light years.
Would anyone like to check my figures? I'd love to make sure I'm getting those power figures correct. :-) -
Re:The real criminal
How about
* Some Puerto-Rican guy -
Re: GAY BAREBACKING ALL NIGHT LONG
Try this one!
http://www.arbr11.dsl.pipex.com/
But hey, stop this arsehole from making any money.. make him PAY like the rest of us (or atleast buy some beer) -
Re:Multiple links
You want off-topic? Try this.. I know this is off topic..
http://www.arbr11.dsl.pipex.com/
But hey, stop this arsehole from making any money.. make him PAY like the rest of us (or atleast buy some beer) -
Re:An Intervention?
Hey I know this is off topic..
http://www.arbr11.dsl.pipex.com/
But hey, stop this arsehole from making any money.. make him PAY like the rest of us (or atleast buy some beer) -
Re: Mondern Tube amplifiers.
When you're done playing with all that BS, and maybe getting yourself some thousand dollar speaker cables (and a thousand dollar power cable to go with them) you should check out douglas self's amplifier design book, or at least wander around his website.
The whole anti-negative feedback thing held onto by tube fans is largely a load of crap. I'd love to see the results of some double blind testing, but generally these people are totally uninterested in that sort of thing (a sure sign that deep down they at least suspect that they're imagining some or all of the results) -
Re:Sir?
actually dear poster its a twice in a lifetime experience..
the next transit is due in 2012
(+1 wiseass..) -
Re:One nice thing about working in Canada...
when was the last time you heard anyone say, "Let's get those damn Canadians"?
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Re:Finally
I use IMPS
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Re:The Bikers know how do to it
Here's a video link from a link from the article. It's described as what "must be the first operational V8 monowheel."
Nifty! Though I do like the RIOTWheel too...
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Re:The Bikers know how do to it
Here's a video link from a link from the article. It's described as what "must be the first operational V8 monowheel."
Nifty! Though I do like the RIOTWheel too...
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Yeah...
Thats what i thought at first too, kinda dissapointed. Although the one on monster garage reminded me waaay to much of the "It" on south park... Linky
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Re:The problem with Stephenson is male-female dial
Stephenson makes great use of speculative history. He postulates some great "what if" scenarios arising from past events and uses them to weave an alternative present.
They are OK, I think, but not great. For the absolute best I've come across in alternate present novels, check out Pavane by Keith Roberts, who sadly died in 2000. -
Re:Obligatory
I installed Linux on it!
Robot Robot Robot -
Re:How Ironic
Yes, countries who were screwed over by the East India Company have no business in a functional capitalist ecosystem.
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Dr. Who and Land of the Lost
I remember tuning into PBS and getting duped into watching Dr. Who, thinking it was going to be a British version of Star Trek or something. I tried to like it. The theme song was excellent and the premise was neat, but I just couldn't get into the Sid and Marty Kroft looking sets. Today though, I would proably think it is great television.
FWIW, why doesn't /. have a Tardis icon they can use? They could swipe these guys' artwork for some Who game I've never played.
Nog -
Wow. Interesting analysis.So, here's my 2 cents on the analysis and decision...
Back in October, the FCC ruled that the use of the word "fucking" as an adjective was not indecent
Anyone know what the ratings where for South Park episode 502: It hits the fan which has about 270+ instances of the word "shit"? Obviously, a more profane word if we are going to look at the vulgarity aspect, but they let that through as well.
The Seventh Circuit, in its most recent decision defining "profane" under section 1464, stated that the term is "construable as denoting certain of those personally reviling epithets naturally tending to provoke violent resentment or denoting language so grossly offensive to members of the public who actually hear it as to amount to a nuisance."35
I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but there are thousands (or more) people in the US that feel that any mention of God in a political speech is a offensive and a nuisance (as well as illegal if we consider the separation of church and state). Therefore, shouldn't any mention of God in a political campaign be considered profane?
In addition, if they want to sue someone for broadcasting profane language, don't they have to file a suit, and put the words used in the case notes? And don't those notes become public? And doesn't the media usually repeat what they are being charged with -- thus putting those same words back into broadcast?
36 Nuisance has been defined as including "a condition of things which is prejudicial to the . . . sense of decency or morals of the citizens at large . . .
." Ballentine's Law Dictionary (3d ed. 1969).I reiterate my God and South Park statements above.
We will analyze other potentially profane words or phrases on a case-by-case basis.
IE: They reserve the right to make what you said illegal AFTER THE FACT.
Personally, I can't wait until our own government (whether it be the FCC or local riot police) actually read these words and think for a moment on what they ACTUALLY say: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.
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9-10 mpg?
I'm disappointed to only be getting about 47mpg in my Smart Roadster
Then again we pay about $6 per gallon over for petrol here in England. -
Re:I'm turning Democratic
It is not the employer's responsibility in a free market to provide a "safe working environment."
I don't know about "a free market" but it is the employer's responsibility in the United States, which is where IBM was conducting business. In that country, an employer's responsibility is determined by democratically elected representatives, not the market or the employer's own notion of his responsibility.
The responsibility of the employer to provide a safe working environment is a relatively recent innovation in capitalism. The earliest industrialists provided horrendous working conditions for both adults and children as long as they could get away with it.
Fortunately for employees, a free society trumps the free market.
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Re:This is basic economics people!Devoid of fact? Well, better than getting the facts wrong.
Free-trade is a basic tool of a capitalist economy. It has a proven track-record of working (eg: France under Napoleon
Napoleon controlled bread prices for the welfare of the people. Check this link for more information.
Stop swallowing dogma wholesale. A recall of facts goes some way to showing intelligence. But if you regurgitate the misinformation of self-interested people, that goes all the way to showing stupidity.
Go check the web for other places where accepting American-style free trade has damaged the economy (eg, New Zealand in the 80s and 90s) and abandoning free trade has protected it (eg, Malaysia since the Asian crisis).
There is no "one size fits all" solution in economics.
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Re:The Good and the Bad
Enemy Territory: I prefer RtCW. It's pure and fun. Tram rulez. However, ET is *good*, I just happen to think RtCW is great.
Call of Duty: I'll take good scripted over mediocre AI any day. This is a good game (not done yet, the Russian levels might suck :-) a seriously good single-player game. I will be replaying it on harder levels.
IL-2: Forgotten Battles: This is a solid sim covering East, North and Western fronts in WW2. Lots of aircraft to fly, plenty of campaign missions to tackle, good community and developer support, and lots of difficulty settings so everyone can play at their level. And it's a very, very pretty game. Check out a really cool movie [88.8MB]. -
Re:My favourite game!
Anyone else play the other greats of that era - things like Ravenskull, Striker's Run, Exile etc...? Did anyone ever finish Exile?
Don't forget Elite, Arcadians and Starship Command.
Exile still is my favorite game - it works under BeebEm!
I never finished the Acorn Electron version (couldn't afford a Model B or Master) but got it for the Amiga years later and finished it.
I recently found it again as an emulated game (using BeebEm) and started playing again - even now it's very playable. -
Re:Heh
Everybody grab a broom, it's shenanigans!
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Re:Nothing new hereThe study shows that the most likely abductors of children... are the parents themselves! [the two adults are somewhat stunned] The study reveals that nine out of every ten abduction cases are commited by the child's mother or father. The bottom line being that your children aren't safe, even from you! [Tweek's mom rises from the couch and walks away from it. Richard watches her go]
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Re:I heard about it...
its clearly the best show. you have a time traveller who goes around solving other peoples problems and dependning on which one you watch he has a different personality. but always he is knowledgeable and intelligent moreso than everyone else. he also frequently changes nice looking english hoes. might i add, also from all time periods.
of course the 4th and 7th are most memerable to me. maybe the 2nd one was good too.
Marshal: 'How can we have peace until we have the ultimate deterrent that will ensure a lasting peace?'
Doctor: 'Tell me Marshal, if you had this ultimate deterrent, what would you do?'
Marshal: 'Use it of course, make sure it works.'
Doctor: 'Yes... You have a true military mind, Marshal.'
Marshal: 'Thank you.'
--
k9 rocks the casbah too:
Drax: 'Blimey, it's a dog! Who's a little tin dog, then?'
K9: 'Your silliness is noted.'
http://www.bbc.co.uk/cult/doctorwho/episodeguide/a rmageddonfactor/quote.shtml
also i have tonnes of pirate dr who. if anyone has a nice ftp or collection of torrents i would be happy to trade. :) -
heh
It looks like a monowheel
Be sure to check the 1932 Dynosphere. -
Re:Congratulations to China!
Reminds me of a South Park episode where the kids try to build a stairway to heaven and it became a race between them (helped with the US government) and the Japanese. They have to reach heaven because Kenny had a winning lottery ticket but had died before, but their parents misunderstood them (as usual) and thought they just missed Kenny that much. Their ladder was made of scrap wood while the Japanese one was hightech, and the Japanese won of course.. what's the point of this post, no idea. But the writers managed to tie it to GWB and the non-existant WMD, which made it hilarious. Read the script, or download it (from there or somewhere else)
:) -
Re:Congratulations to China!
Reminds me of a South Park episode where the kids try to build a stairway to heaven and it became a race between them (helped with the US government) and the Japanese. They have to reach heaven because Kenny had a winning lottery ticket but had died before, but their parents misunderstood them (as usual) and thought they just missed Kenny that much. Their ladder was made of scrap wood while the Japanese one was hightech, and the Japanese won of course.. what's the point of this post, no idea. But the writers managed to tie it to GWB and the non-existant WMD, which made it hilarious. Read the script, or download it (from there or somewhere else)
:) -
Re:I sense a slashdotting in the works...
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Re:I sense a slashdotting in the works...
Only MySQL is hosed... here is a link to the Borg Cube graphic:
Cube -
From the World of StuartI am reminded of a quote on video game piracy that I once read:
The mainstream consumer has made it absolutely plain time and time again that the price he or she will pay for standard new-release items of leisure software, be they books, movies, pop albums, graphic novels, concert tickets or absolutely anything else, is 15 [pounds], give or take a couple of quid.
http://dialspace.dial.pipex.com/town/estate/dh69/w os/world/ctw/piracy.htm
The problem is psychological. People simply do not compare the prices of CDs and DVDs. It is not how we think. In America, everything is $15 instead. Exchange rates do not matter--it is the number that is significant.
P.S. Why does slashdot strip the pound symbol? -
Some advice on proper trollingYou wouldnt have been labeled a troll if you had been wise and used good south park links to disguise your message. For example, your post could have been....
At what point does slashdot just go ahead and directly link each story to the Democratic Party's home page?
This is all a bunch of hippie crap and hippies suck! Next thing you know, slashdot will be posting stories about saving baby cows, instead of good ones about the lord of the rings
You bastards! -
In England...
... we once had a thing called Window Tax and people predictably bricked up their windows, you can still see remnants of this today in old houses, incidentally it replaced "Hearth Tax".
I'm sure the irony of taxing windows isn't lost on you. -
Re:Better idea...
Only if it's soundproof.
I've got a pinball machine in my office (Triple Action by Williams). It's fun, but it's loud. Just make sure nobody's gonna get annoyed by the sounds. -
Re:old man murray
OMM is a close second to the greatest example of video game journalism there ever was, Amiga Power. Never before had the industry seen such ruthless, tactless critique on video games, the video game industry, and even its peers. never afraid to use the entire range of 0-100% for scoring games (as opposed to the 73% syndrome that the industry still seems to be stuck in, and maintaining journalistic integrity by refusing to review incomplete games and take bribes, Amiga Power shined above its competitors.
unfortunately like OMM it's just a memory for those who remember it, and unlike OMM many people this side of the pond never experienced it firsthand. Stuart Campbell's article archive and AP2 (sort of a post-hummus commentary of it all) serve as beacons of its greatness.
and no, i'm not an amiga fanatic, but i played one in my troubled youth. -
Re:old man murray
OMM is a close second to the greatest example of video game journalism there ever was, Amiga Power. Never before had the industry seen such ruthless, tactless critique on video games, the video game industry, and even its peers. never afraid to use the entire range of 0-100% for scoring games (as opposed to the 73% syndrome that the industry still seems to be stuck in, and maintaining journalistic integrity by refusing to review incomplete games and take bribes, Amiga Power shined above its competitors.
unfortunately like OMM it's just a memory for those who remember it, and unlike OMM many people this side of the pond never experienced it firsthand. Stuart Campbell's article archive and AP2 (sort of a post-hummus commentary of it all) serve as beacons of its greatness.
and no, i'm not an amiga fanatic, but i played one in my troubled youth. -
Re:old man murray
OMM is a close second to the greatest example of video game journalism there ever was, Amiga Power. Never before had the industry seen such ruthless, tactless critique on video games, the video game industry, and even its peers. never afraid to use the entire range of 0-100% for scoring games (as opposed to the 73% syndrome that the industry still seems to be stuck in, and maintaining journalistic integrity by refusing to review incomplete games and take bribes, Amiga Power shined above its competitors.
unfortunately like OMM it's just a memory for those who remember it, and unlike OMM many people this side of the pond never experienced it firsthand. Stuart Campbell's article archive and AP2 (sort of a post-hummus commentary of it all) serve as beacons of its greatness.
and no, i'm not an amiga fanatic, but i played one in my troubled youth. -
Re:Capitalism v. Free MarketInteresting article though it really seemed to be a triumph of dogma over facts, an insistance on promoting what the writer opposes (in this case socialism) as something that it isn't to the point of rewriting history.
The man most often credited with "founding" socialism was Robert Owen. A Google search will bring up websites about what he believed, what he was trying to do, and how he did it. In essence, Owen ran textile mills, felt that his industry was dealing with the people doing the work poorly, and proposed ways in which his business could be restructured to give his workers and their families a decent life. Despite Modern American (including Hessen's) dogmatic portrayal of socialists and socialism, Owen didn't involve the State in anything beyond one attempt to outlaw child labour.
Omitting this might seem just carelessness, but actually Hessen chooses to write about that very period in history, describing the period as being some sort of war between evil Socialists who were trying to eradicate "individualism" and the mill owners who could do no bad because, well, things weren't actually worse were they:
Nonetheless, by the 1820s and 1830s the growing specter of child labor and "dark satanic mills" generated vocal opposition to these unbridled examples of self-interest and the pursuit of profit. Some critics urged legislative regulation of wages and hours, compulsory education, and minimum-age limits for laborers. Others offered more radical attacks and alternatives. The most vociferous were the socialists, who aimed to eradicate individualism, the name that preceded capitalism.
While it's true that Socialists like Owen promoted brotherhood, community, and social solidarity, and even designed model utopias which had a few common areas (erm, basically, kitchens and schools, and these "utopias" were, for the most part, intended to be supplied by employers like Owen for their workers, in order to be more humane), to suggest, as Hessen does, that these were repudiations of what had become known as capitalism, and were promotions of coerced, governmental, involvement and a destruction of inelienable rights, is an extraordinary jump. This is not to imply that there wouldn't have been those calling for government regulation who were socialists, but the picture of a unified group opposed to trade and a free market, in favour of government regulations (at a time when, in Europe where this movement started, the governments were hardly seen as friends of the poor - the poor couldn't even vote in the UK, you had to be a male landowner to do that) is an absurd one. It is even more absurd when he adds comments about inalienable rights, especially given socialists were, by and large, trying to improve rights for everyone rather than allow a situation where by economic circumstance, their's or those of their parents, someone may be deprived unfairly of any degree of reasonable control over their lives.Socialist theorists repudiated individualism's leading tenets: that individuals possess inalienable rights, that society should not restrain individuals from pursuing their own happiness, and that economic activity should not be regulated by government. Instead, they proclaimed an organic conception of society. They stressed ideals such as brotherhood, community, and social solidarity and set forth detailed blueprints for model utopian colonies in which collectivist values would be institutionalized.
This kind of slap-dash rewriting of history is why it's very often difficult to take the ideological Right seriously. Simplistic paintings of "socialism", over-zealous faith in the "free market" to solve every problem, and a refusable to even accept the possibility that people might need protection from some forms of greed, combine to shore up reasonable ideas with unreasonable justifications.
Unfortunately, since Reagan and Thatcher made these ideas fashionable, these views are taken far more seriously than they should be.
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Re:Chart link is an excel document
Someone in the Slyck forum converted it to plain text. But it opens fine in OpenOffice.org.
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First Thoughts.......
...a5cii think methanol was methane so.....
http://www.apps23.dsl.pipex.com/Methane-ol.JPG
Am I an artist? or am I an Artisté -
Re: George MacDonald
"The fairy story may be made a vehicle of Mystery.
That at least is what George MacDonald attempted,
achieving stories of Power and Beauty
when he succeeded." (J R R Tolkien)
if you like tolkien - pay a visit to the grandfather of modern fiction -- the guy who encouraged lewis carrol to publish the 'alice in wonderland' books -- check out 'Phantastes' and 'Lilith' by George MacDonald' for some of the best fiction, last century or this.
George-MacDonald.com
phantastes - amazon listing
cheers,
john.
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Mr Hat!
(insert Southpark reference here, episode 511) Mr. Garrison is putting the final touches on his top secret device, which he simply calls "IT". Take it like a man!
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Mirror
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Re: Greedy change making algorithm - when optimal?
The point, I think, is that the greedy algorithm fails to provide that solution. Using the greedy algorithm would give a half crown, a shilling and a sixpence.
(btw, according to this page, a sixpence was a tanner, and 2 shillings was a florin.) -
Link to airport extreme article
Theres a link on the page to an article on the airport extreme