Sorry, I think we're using different definitions. When I say 'portable' I mean it in the lay sense. The way a chair, say, or a stereo is portable. I can take it to my friend's place and it's very likely that it will work there. I'm a software engineer (among other things) and I fully understand the computing definition of portable as being available for multiple operating environments.
You're quite correct, for a software engineer's definition of portable. For your J. Random User, however, the Windows portable executable format really is about as close as a native app comes to 'portable', in the sense I was talking. Much as I'd like it to be otherwise, J. Random User runs some flavour of Windows. Anyone running Linux is probably cluey enough to install Wine (or DOSBox for very old apps), which will (in my experience) run most things that don't require obscure hardware.
Sounds like a lawsuit waiting to happen. Our current philosophy on information ownership is having a hard enough time with cheap fast unlimited replication of music and movies, imagine what it'll be like when you can download the template for a coke and then have unlimited free coke for the cost of some swamp water. Or you can 'print' out the latest iPod design that you just downloaded.
Just because you inhale something doesn't mean all it does is displace oxygen.
Wait wait wait, who said anything about inhaling? Nitrous oxide goes in the cylinders, the smile comes from the whooshing sound that the world makes as it goes by!
Simple. Tell them that they're only allowed to use the helmet for 10 minutes but that it gives them a higher score. Then grudgingly 'let' them wear it a little longer 'if they're good'.:)
If it's silent and very difficult to pick up with radar, and looks like a large fish on sonar, what does it matter how long it takes to get there? Hell, you could have a bunch of them schmoozing around the ocean as an analogue to the 'mutually assured destruction' bombers circling the Arctic (are they still up there? >.> ) just with a longer delay between bust and kaboom.
Oh, definitely - you can't beat the first law of thermodynamics. Or as I like to concisely state it, "there are no fat Ethiopians".
As for staying warm and reducing intake, I already eat (to my mind) ridiculously little for my size. The only way to further reduce calorific intake would be to cut alcohol out of my diet. DO NOT WANT!:P I could always exercise... bah who am I kidding.:P
(In my defense, I stumble out of bed at about 7:45am and into the car, leave work at 5ish, get home at 6ish, by which time it's already dark and the missus feels terribly neglected if I bugger off to do some kind of workout.)
Can you run it on Linux, Solaris, Mac, or BSD?
I don't think you really know what that word means.
Can you run it on Simmo's computer? Can you run it on Ben's computer? Can you run it on Roush's computer?
I don't think you really know what that word means to real people. (Hint: Simmo and Ben run Windows and Roush runs OSX and has Wine installed.)
In geek terms 'portable' means 'you can run it on different platforms'. In real person terms, portable means 'you can run it on most of your friends' computers'.
Nope, I've never had one of these new-fangled thinks-it-knows-better-than-me ve-hickles. My car lets me know something's wrong the old fashioned way... by overheating or making a 'funny noise'.:)
So this is an NTFS issue rather than an OS issue? I'd always assumed that write caching happened above the level of the actual mass storage driver... I've had data loss at one stage before (but I think, as you said, that it was an NTFS USB drive) and at another stage been able to unplug the device "when the light stops" without data loss. I always figured it was because the former was on XP and the latter on '95.
nor do they look at a pile of food and say, "you know, screw this diet; I'm thinking about 10 lbs of lard sounds really tasty about now."
You sure 'bout that? I'm feeling pretty darn hungry...
Good post though. And I'd say that you're right about "I'll do X(exercise) later" being misleading, but even more so, it's incredibly easy to take the candy now and not ever get round to X. Especially since if X is remotely vigorous, afterwards you're going to feel like a drink of water and maybe some healthy food, rather than your candy bar. And you WANT that candy bar, yes you do!
At (approximate numbers follow) 4000 calories per pound, 100 lbs is 400,000 calories, which divided by roughly 50 weeks per year times 20 years (1000 weeks) is about 400 calories per week. That's less than two candy bars per week excess.
Your analysis is somewhat misleading. The vast bulk of energy burned by the human body is spent simply keeping warm. Even modest fat deposits add significant insulation and thus drop the basal metabolic rate way down. My theory is that this results in a kind of personal 'global warming', where the extra fat deposits lower your energy usage for thermal homeostasis.
Take me for example - I'm carrying maybe 10kg of excess fat. When I started to chub up (used to be a gym junkie, then I quit working out, started playing WoW, and started drinking beer all at once. Whoops!) I noticed a dramatic difference in how fast I felt overheated when exercising. Conversely, when we go to the beach, my wife (who's built like a pixy) tends to get cold pretty fast, whereas I feel like an orca - my skin gets very cold but it doesn't get through the chub and the cold doesn't bother me.:P
I'm currently testing this theory by deliberately dressing a bit cooler than I normally would, and seeing if I lose weight faster.:)
No, but there's a difference between seeing your Hawaiian shirt and seeing the saggy flob under it.
And as for the thread title, it's true that it's only easy to be a policeman in a police state. I posit that likewise, it is only easy to be a free man in a free state.
Hell, back in '99 I realised that a C(++) Windows program compiled for Intel was the most portable small-app format in practice. Java didn't come close. Make your friends download 25mb for the latest JRE? Or just write it in C and send them the 100kB.exe file. Yeah, that sounds good.
That's possibly slightly less true now than it used to be, but still pretty accurate - if you want something to 'just work' with no extra installs whatsoever, a web app is probably your best bet, followed by a C++ Windows app.
Honestly, how does one build "the world's biggest app store" unless one can guarantee more apps than any other store? Unless they define 'biggest' by some crazy arbitrary measure like "number of servers in the server farm" or "physical footprint of the data center". To make them come, it's no longer enough just to build it. It has to be not only as-good-as but compellingly better than the existing options for it to be competitive. I wonder what they've got that makes them think it's so much better?
That sounds weird. O.o I'm pretty sure that (in Australia at least) it's not the case - if you buy a vehicle and then de-register it (returning the plates etc.) it's yours to do whatever the hell you want with. Titling and registration of vehicles is only required if you want to drive legally on public roads.
Don't joke about it - car companies could easily turn around and say "as of 2010, we no longer sell cars, instead we offer them on 10 year hire-purchase". They could then set whatever conditions they liked on the vehicle during that time. I know that was how they sold virtually all of the first wave of battery-electric vehicles, and then when the CARB mandate got neutered, all (I believe) of the companies immediately recalled their cars, and GM at least crushed them. The Ford Ranger EVs only survived due to strong grass-roots action.
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Sorry, I think we're using different definitions. When I say 'portable' I mean it in the lay sense. The way a chair, say, or a stereo is portable. I can take it to my friend's place and it's very likely that it will work there. I'm a software engineer (among other things) and I fully understand the computing definition of portable as being available for multiple operating environments.
You're quite correct, for a software engineer's definition of portable. For your J. Random User, however, the Windows portable executable format really is about as close as a native app comes to 'portable', in the sense I was talking. Much as I'd like it to be otherwise, J. Random User runs some flavour of Windows. Anyone running Linux is probably cluey enough to install Wine (or DOSBox for very old apps), which will (in my experience) run most things that don't require obscure hardware.
Damn you! I thought I'd escaped from tvtropes but nooooo you had to link there!
Replicators in Stargate were freakin' sweet.
Sounds like a lawsuit waiting to happen. Our current philosophy on information ownership is having a hard enough time with cheap fast unlimited replication of music and movies, imagine what it'll be like when you can download the template for a coke and then have unlimited free coke for the cost of some swamp water. Or you can 'print' out the latest iPod design that you just downloaded.
+1. I won't tell yours if you don't tell mine. O.o
I'm reasonably sure this consistent innovation is the result of prolonged early exposure to breasts.
America take note!
And after that it was Chemoanarchist. In 10 years' time it'll probably be Chemocapitalist.
Just because you inhale something doesn't mean all it does is displace oxygen.
Wait wait wait, who said anything about inhaling? Nitrous oxide goes in the cylinders, the smile comes from the whooshing sound that the world makes as it goes by!
Simple. Tell them that they're only allowed to use the helmet for 10 minutes but that it gives them a higher score. Then grudgingly 'let' them wear it a little longer 'if they're good'. :)
Anyone else curious why this is flamebait?
A lot of addictive things need to be burned. :)
Which dentist is this again? :D
I always loved eating that Dairy Whip straight from the can... now I know why. ;)
Hey, with kids like these you need to be a little strict.
If it's silent and very difficult to pick up with radar, and looks like a large fish on sonar, what does it matter how long it takes to get there? Hell, you could have a bunch of them schmoozing around the ocean as an analogue to the 'mutually assured destruction' bombers circling the Arctic (are they still up there? >.> ) just with a longer delay between bust and kaboom.
Oh, definitely - you can't beat the first law of thermodynamics. Or as I like to concisely state it, "there are no fat Ethiopians".
:P I could always exercise... bah who am I kidding. :P
As for staying warm and reducing intake, I already eat (to my mind) ridiculously little for my size. The only way to further reduce calorific intake would be to cut alcohol out of my diet. DO NOT WANT!
(In my defense, I stumble out of bed at about 7:45am and into the car, leave work at 5ish, get home at 6ish, by which time it's already dark and the missus feels terribly neglected if I bugger off to do some kind of workout.)
Can you run it on Linux, Solaris, Mac, or BSD?
I don't think you really know what that word means.
Can you run it on Simmo's computer? Can you run it on Ben's computer? Can you run it on Roush's computer?
I don't think you really know what that word means to real people. (Hint: Simmo and Ben run Windows and Roush runs OSX and has Wine installed.)
In geek terms 'portable' means 'you can run it on different platforms'. In real person terms, portable means 'you can run it on most of your friends' computers'.
Nope, I've never had one of these new-fangled thinks-it-knows-better-than-me ve-hickles. My car lets me know something's wrong the old fashioned way... by overheating or making a 'funny noise'. :)
So this is an NTFS issue rather than an OS issue? I'd always assumed that write caching happened above the level of the actual mass storage driver... I've had data loss at one stage before (but I think, as you said, that it was an NTFS USB drive) and at another stage been able to unplug the device "when the light stops" without data loss. I always figured it was because the former was on XP and the latter on '95.
nor do they look at a pile of food and say, "you know, screw this diet; I'm thinking about 10 lbs of lard sounds really tasty about now."
You sure 'bout that? I'm feeling pretty darn hungry...
Good post though. And I'd say that you're right about "I'll do X(exercise) later" being misleading, but even more so, it's incredibly easy to take the candy now and not ever get round to X. Especially since if X is remotely vigorous, afterwards you're going to feel like a drink of water and maybe some healthy food, rather than your candy bar. And you WANT that candy bar, yes you do!
At (approximate numbers follow) 4000 calories per pound, 100 lbs is 400,000 calories, which divided by roughly 50 weeks per year times 20 years (1000 weeks) is about 400 calories per week. That's less than two candy bars per week excess.
Your analysis is somewhat misleading. The vast bulk of energy burned by the human body is spent simply keeping warm. Even modest fat deposits add significant insulation and thus drop the basal metabolic rate way down. My theory is that this results in a kind of personal 'global warming', where the extra fat deposits lower your energy usage for thermal homeostasis.
:P
:)
Take me for example - I'm carrying maybe 10kg of excess fat. When I started to chub up (used to be a gym junkie, then I quit working out, started playing WoW, and started drinking beer all at once. Whoops!) I noticed a dramatic difference in how fast I felt overheated when exercising. Conversely, when we go to the beach, my wife (who's built like a pixy) tends to get cold pretty fast, whereas I feel like an orca - my skin gets very cold but it doesn't get through the chub and the cold doesn't bother me.
I'm currently testing this theory by deliberately dressing a bit cooler than I normally would, and seeing if I lose weight faster.
No, but there's a difference between seeing your Hawaiian shirt and seeing the saggy flob under it.
And as for the thread title, it's true that it's only easy to be a policeman in a police state. I posit that likewise, it is only easy to be a free man in a free state.
Hell, back in '99 I realised that a C(++) Windows program compiled for Intel was the most portable small-app format in practice. Java didn't come close. Make your friends download 25mb for the latest JRE? Or just write it in C and send them the 100kB .exe file. Yeah, that sounds good.
That's possibly slightly less true now than it used to be, but still pretty accurate - if you want something to 'just work' with no extra installs whatsoever, a web app is probably your best bet, followed by a C++ Windows app.
HHISSSSSSSSssssSSSsSssSsssSS!
Hsssshssssssssthhhhhh!!
(This message written and authorized by the Annoying Python Evangelists' Club).
Heheheh... nice work. :P
Honestly, how does one build "the world's biggest app store" unless one can guarantee more apps than any other store? Unless they define 'biggest' by some crazy arbitrary measure like "number of servers in the server farm" or "physical footprint of the data center". To make them come, it's no longer enough just to build it. It has to be not only as-good-as but compellingly better than the existing options for it to be competitive. I wonder what they've got that makes them think it's so much better?
That sounds weird. O.o I'm pretty sure that (in Australia at least) it's not the case - if you buy a vehicle and then de-register it (returning the plates etc.) it's yours to do whatever the hell you want with. Titling and registration of vehicles is only required if you want to drive legally on public roads.
Don't joke about it - car companies could easily turn around and say "as of 2010, we no longer sell cars, instead we offer them on 10 year hire-purchase". They could then set whatever conditions they liked on the vehicle during that time. I know that was how they sold virtually all of the first wave of battery-electric vehicles, and then when the CARB mandate got neutered, all (I believe) of the companies immediately recalled their cars, and GM at least crushed them. The Ford Ranger EVs only survived due to strong grass-roots action.