110010111001001010100100111010011 is 33 successive digits of pi (in decimal/binary/ternary/etc.). Cunningly, he did not choose the first 33 digits, of course.
The Dell laptops we get at work are replaced every 3 years - if they last even that long. My previous laptop went through 3 hard disks in 3 years. A colleague has already replaced the motherboard on a 1 year old M4400 twice, and another has replaced the motherboard once. My work M4400 has bunches of dead pixels but I'm living with it - the odds of Dell service breaking something else while swapping the display are far too high. In our small work group, I'd say the 1 year malfunction rates we see from Dell are comparable to the 3 year rates in the article you linked.
On the other hand, we have a Sony Vaio VGN-A117S laptop at home, which is used just as heavily as the work laptops, and does a lot of traveling (mostly bumpy road cottage trips). After more than seven years it's still running flawlessly. The only sign of degradation is that the battery life has dropped from 2.5 hours to below 2 hours. I know slashdot likes to give Sony the 2-minutes-hate regularly, but that Vaio is the most reliable laptop I've ever had, and even by today's standards it has one of the best displays (1920x1200, 17" LCD).
FWIW, the open-source movie "Nasty Old People" is listed at IMDB http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1527679. This is available by torrent or download quite legally, as it is published under a Creative Commons license http://nastyoldpeople.org/. It's a surprisingly good movie, quite engaging and with a story relevant to modern society.
What percentage of slashdotters actually noticed the facebook outage when it happened? As opposed to merely participating in the post-hoc commentary after they read about it. It should have been posted to slashdot's idle category.
web security experts are warning that the sprawling new web standard may favor functionality over security, enabling a new generation of powerful web-based attacks.
MS will Embrace and Extend, but not Extinguish the potential for security holes.
Apple will probably do much the same, but might do the enhanced functionality bit also.
The BSD and *nix variants will only take on the functionality, most foolishly (using MBA "forced-upgrade-income" definition).
And do you honestly expect the typical FB user to do that - set up and manage their own server?
So it will be a social network for people who are at least semi-competent with technology (or at least are friends with such a person). Sounds good to me - I already run a web server at home, and the kids know how to put stuff onto it.
I tried MySpace for a few days; told them to wipe my account (it was before they had an option for leaving). Tried FaceBook for a month or so, then zombified my account.
Depends on the definition of "algae", doesn't it? In common use, seaweeds are types of algae, as are freshwater pond scum and suchlike. In more scientific use algae is a polyphyletic term, and would preferably be replaced with more appropriate terms, such as red seaweeds, blue-green algae, etc.
FYI, edible seaweeds are all considered to be algae (in the common sense of the word) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edible_seaweed
It's not just sushi nori. Various red seaweeds have been a part of European cuisine for many centuries. Carrageen and dulse have long been eaten in Ireland, Scotland, Iceland, and probably other places bordering the Atlantic. Apparently, carrageen is also consumed in the caribbean, and dried carrageen is available in health food stores across North America.
BTW, those who don't want to eat seaweed should make sure that E407 is not listed as an ingredient in their ice cream, beer, pate, etc...
Both are still plenty vulnerable (google less so, but still) to an upstart with marketing money and a decent business plan.
Facebook (when I last looked at it, more than a year ago) struck me as being a sort of internet masturbation. As soon as something more fulfilling comes along, it will fall by the wayside. I bet the typical teenager spends a lot more time wanking than screwing, but eventually gets laid often enough to reverse the situation.
Google, on the other hand, provides a few useful services. It's not sex, but it's not jerking around either.
It's not as surprising as that. In fact, I would not call it much of a surprise at all.
Probably the same can be said for MySpace and any other "social" site - they appeal to some mix of the insecure (such as teenagers) and the narcissistic (a particular kind of sociopath, often an adult). I had a FaceBook account for a short while, then saw what other people were doing there (people I know), and decided not to be a part of the vacuous trumpeting that substitutes for interaction. My FaceBook account was zombified quite a while ago - all its content deleted.
I find it humorous that some American soldiers don't actually know who Allah is.
It makes me wonder about all the other parts of the Koran they are unaware of.
That all sounds nice and sensitive and empathetic, but how many other stone age mythologies should they study? Should they be knowledgeable of the differences between the Sunni and Shia branches of Islam? Or the peculiarities of the Wahhabists or the Druze?
FYI, Ramayana, Mahabharata, Guru Granth Sahib, and Kitab Al Hikma are all sacred texts of large religious groups in Iraq/Afghanistan and their immediate vicinity (apart from the Torah, Old and New Testaments, and Koran). And this does not include other religions of the region which either lack canonical texts (Jainism) or for which multiple canonical texts exist (Buddhism). Also, the study of certain other ancient texts (e.g. Avesta, Book of Breathings) should be avoided, since knowledge of their content would prevent sympathetic attitudes towards some of the above-mentioned texts. American forces are posted in several states in Central Asia - how much do you know of the religions of that region?
IMHO, knowledge of local religions and their vitriolic schisms is as likely to harm as to help in soldiering.
On a Volvo S80 2.9, the sweet spot seems to be 50mph. 600+ miles on one tank IIRC.
It varies. With a Mercedes C200 stationwagon, I get well over 1400km (875mi) on a 60L tank, with mostly highway driving between 100km/h and 130km/h (60-80mph). On mixed dirt roads, country roads, and suburban commute, it gives at least 1000km (600mi) between fills.
Indeed. Business 101 teaches us that "cheap shit drives good shit out of the market" in a race to the bottom. Business 201 modifies this slightly by noting that statutory regulations and standards usually place a lower bound on how shitty stuff can get. MBA courses subsequently add an "unfortunately" to the latter observation.
So instead of paying $1,165 for something you can touch and have access to whenever you want (and possibly resell) Oxford thinks consumers would rather pay $8,850 ($295/year * 30 years (rough average time between releases)) and get something that they cannot access whenever they want (servers go down, power outages, etc.) instead? Someone help me out here...I can't see the rational here.
You insensitive clod! It's supposed to give Oxford a better deal, not the consumer!!! Now immediately apologize by signing up for a few decades.
So if you or your wife looks at the naughty toys in an online sex shop, you'll get lurid "batteries not included" stuff popping up on regular web pages as well?
Now there's a thought for sabotaging the browser on someone else's PC! Wait until they're away for a few minutes, then quickly flick through some S&M merchandise pages...
what you describe seems pretty tortuous for a 9th grader (learning gimp, ooo), even for one that has an interest
I'm not so sure about that. Our 8th grader has been using Gimp for almost 2 years, and can do quite a lot with it, including working with masks and layers. She knows where to search on the web for gimp tutorials when she wants to do something new, and has mastered many techniques. She also uses OOo for assignments (nothing too complicated, of course), and can use Inkscape for basic vector graphics. FWIW, she started doing these things in 7th grade, and her proficiency keeps increasing with these and other tools.
Slashdot Mirror
110010111001001010100100111010011 is 33 successive digits of pi (in decimal/binary/ternary/etc.). Cunningly, he did not choose the first 33 digits, of course.
Hard drive, maybe. That can be easily replaced. I haven't seen a full system failure (motherboard, power supply, etc.) in years.
Ever heard of laptops? Some hardware failure stats for you http://www.electronista.com/articles/09/11/17/reliability.study.has.apple.4th.place/.
It depends on the laptop. Quite a lot.
The Dell laptops we get at work are replaced every 3 years - if they last even that long. My previous laptop went through 3 hard disks in 3 years. A colleague has already replaced the motherboard on a 1 year old M4400 twice, and another has replaced the motherboard once. My work M4400 has bunches of dead pixels but I'm living with it - the odds of Dell service breaking something else while swapping the display are far too high. In our small work group, I'd say the 1 year malfunction rates we see from Dell are comparable to the 3 year rates in the article you linked.
On the other hand, we have a Sony Vaio VGN-A117S laptop at home, which is used just as heavily as the work laptops, and does a lot of traveling (mostly bumpy road cottage trips). After more than seven years it's still running flawlessly. The only sign of degradation is that the battery life has dropped from 2.5 hours to below 2 hours. I know slashdot likes to give Sony the 2-minutes-hate regularly, but that Vaio is the most reliable laptop I've ever had, and even by today's standards it has one of the best displays (1920x1200, 17" LCD).
The last digit of pi is "7". You can take my word for it, or prove me wrong.
Nope, you're wrong. The last digit of pi is zero.
This is because pi is exactly 10 (base pi).
FWIW, the open-source movie "Nasty Old People" is listed at IMDB http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1527679. This is available by torrent or download quite legally, as it is published under a Creative Commons license http://nastyoldpeople.org/. It's a surprisingly good movie, quite engaging and with a story relevant to modern society.
..many of its customers actually want fart apps
They'll just have to make do with RIMjobs instead...
And on a side note, how come Slashdot submitters link to a summary, and not the Original NASA source?
Maybe the submitter is a kiwi and is torqued about being left off the map?
Or maybe a Finn. Finland is completely missing from the map. At least there's a fragment of New Zealand's South Island on it (and all of West Island).
What percentage of slashdotters actually noticed the facebook outage when it happened? As opposed to merely participating in the post-hoc commentary after they read about it. It should have been posted to slashdot's idle category.
Two wrongs, in special cases, can make a right (if they cancel each other properly).
http://dilbert.com/strips/comic/1999-02-07/
web security experts are warning that the sprawling new web standard may favor functionality over security, enabling a new generation of powerful web-based attacks.
MS will Embrace and Extend, but not Extinguish the potential for security holes.
Apple will probably do much the same, but might do the enhanced functionality bit also.
The BSD and *nix variants will only take on the functionality, most foolishly (using MBA "forced-upgrade-income" definition).
And do you honestly expect the typical FB user to do that - set up and manage their own server?
So it will be a social network for people who are at least semi-competent with technology (or at least are friends with such a person). Sounds good to me - I already run a web server at home, and the kids know how to put stuff onto it.
I tried MySpace for a few days; told them to wipe my account (it was before they had an option for leaving). Tried FaceBook for a month or so, then zombified my account.
seaweed != algae in my book.
Depends on the definition of "algae", doesn't it? In common use, seaweeds are types of algae, as are freshwater pond scum and suchlike. In more scientific use algae is a polyphyletic term, and would preferably be replaced with more appropriate terms, such as red seaweeds, blue-green algae, etc.
FYI, edible seaweeds are all considered to be algae (in the common sense of the word) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edible_seaweed
It's not just sushi nori. Various red seaweeds have been a part of European cuisine for many centuries. Carrageen and dulse have long been eaten in Ireland, Scotland, Iceland, and probably other places bordering the Atlantic. Apparently, carrageen is also consumed in the caribbean, and dried carrageen is available in health food stores across North America.
BTW, those who don't want to eat seaweed should make sure that E407 is not listed as an ingredient in their ice cream, beer, pate, etc...
Both are still plenty vulnerable (google less so, but still) to an upstart with marketing money and a decent business plan.
Facebook (when I last looked at it, more than a year ago) struck me as being a sort of internet masturbation. As soon as something more fulfilling comes along, it will fall by the wayside. I bet the typical teenager spends a lot more time wanking than screwing, but eventually gets laid often enough to reverse the situation.
Google, on the other hand, provides a few useful services. It's not sex, but it's not jerking around either.
Unless it's a gynoid telling the lies you want to hear...
I mean, really, WOW!
It's not as surprising as that. In fact, I would not call it much of a surprise at all.
Probably the same can be said for MySpace and any other "social" site - they appeal to some mix of the insecure (such as teenagers) and the narcissistic (a particular kind of sociopath, often an adult). I had a FaceBook account for a short while, then saw what other people were doing there (people I know), and decided not to be a part of the vacuous trumpeting that substitutes for interaction. My FaceBook account was zombified quite a while ago - all its content deleted.
Not on google.com, google.fi, google.se, or google.co.uk, but it does appear on google.de (with Chrome and Firefox, but not with Opera).
I find it humorous that some American soldiers don't actually know who Allah is.
It makes me wonder about all the other parts of the Koran they are unaware of.
That all sounds nice and sensitive and empathetic, but how many other stone age mythologies should they study? Should they be knowledgeable of the differences between the Sunni and Shia branches of Islam? Or the peculiarities of the Wahhabists or the Druze?
FYI, Ramayana, Mahabharata, Guru Granth Sahib, and Kitab Al Hikma are all sacred texts of large religious groups in Iraq/Afghanistan and their immediate vicinity (apart from the Torah, Old and New Testaments, and Koran). And this does not include other religions of the region which either lack canonical texts (Jainism) or for which multiple canonical texts exist (Buddhism). Also, the study of certain other ancient texts (e.g. Avesta, Book of Breathings) should be avoided, since knowledge of their content would prevent sympathetic attitudes towards some of the above-mentioned texts. American forces are posted in several states in Central Asia - how much do you know of the religions of that region?
IMHO, knowledge of local religions and their vitriolic schisms is as likely to harm as to help in soldiering.
And there's nary a mention of the several philosophers (all named Bruce) at the University of Woolloomooloo...
On a Volvo S80 2.9, the sweet spot seems to be 50mph. 600+ miles on one tank IIRC.
It varies. With a Mercedes C200 stationwagon, I get well over 1400km (875mi) on a 60L tank, with mostly highway driving between 100km/h and 130km/h (60-80mph). On mixed dirt roads, country roads, and suburban commute, it gives at least 1000km (600mi) between fills.
appears to be malfunctioning...
apart from the state sharing in liability for accidents while speeding with permission...
The evidence is generally for faster/cheaper.
Indeed. Business 101 teaches us that "cheap shit drives good shit out of the market" in a race to the bottom. Business 201 modifies this slightly by noting that statutory regulations and standards usually place a lower bound on how shitty stuff can get. MBA courses subsequently add an "unfortunately" to the latter observation.
So instead of paying $1,165 for something you can touch and have access to whenever you want (and possibly resell) Oxford thinks consumers would rather pay $8,850 ($295/year * 30 years (rough average time between releases)) and get something that they cannot access whenever they want (servers go down, power outages, etc.) instead? Someone help me out here...I can't see the rational here.
You insensitive clod! It's supposed to give Oxford a better deal, not the consumer!!! Now immediately apologize by signing up for a few decades.
So if you or your wife looks at the naughty toys in an online sex shop, you'll get lurid "batteries not included" stuff popping up on regular web pages as well?
Now there's a thought for sabotaging the browser on someone else's PC! Wait until they're away for a few minutes, then quickly flick through some S&M merchandise pages...
what you describe seems pretty tortuous for a 9th grader (learning gimp, ooo), even for one that has an interest
I'm not so sure about that. Our 8th grader has been using Gimp for almost 2 years, and can do quite a lot with it, including working with masks and layers. She knows where to search on the web for gimp tutorials when she wants to do something new, and has mastered many techniques. She also uses OOo for assignments (nothing too complicated, of course), and can use Inkscape for basic vector graphics. FWIW, she started doing these things in 7th grade, and her proficiency keeps increasing with these and other tools.