That's not the point. Although, it sounds like you're a pilot (which I am too) and I think we can both agree that for the money he put into that we'd take a badass plane over that experiment any day:-)
Libertarian FTW! I too am doing my part to vote (evil) incumbents out and am not settling for what everyone loves to call "the lesser of two evils." Thanks to our media, people forget there are more than two parties in this system.
I didn't intend for my post to be any sort of attack on you, and I avoided really using myself as an example of my point because I thought it was unnecessary. But, this is Slashdot, so I should've expected such a response, and I guess I'll bite. To make my point a little clearer, let me tell you a little bit more about myself. I'm a computer science graduate who is a software engineer by day, working on a product that hundreds of thousands of people are using in their home every day, maybe even you (oh, wait, you don't watch TV, so probably not). I also read books, and was actually planning on picking up a new one from Barnes & Noble today or tomorrow. I can't say I've written any, however, so you take the cake there. I have a huge list of activities that I like to do during my spare time. Just to name a few: I'm a licensed pilot, and have been flying since I was 13. I'm currently taking courses at the local community college and am continuing with my flight training to further my aviation career and to make myself a better pilot. I'm also a certified skydiver. I love to get out and play tennis, and when the season is right, I exercise my experience as a snowboarder to shred down the mountains. In the warmer seasons, I'm out on the water a lot wakeboarding, kneeboarding, tubing, you name it. Speaking of water, did I mention that I surf on a regular basis during my lunch breaks? Back at the house, I love being the computer geek that I am, tinkering with different pieces of open-source software, and adding on to my years of experience with Linux. I'm also working on an idea for a fun software project that I can write and contribute back to the open-source community as well.
You know, it's such a nice day out today, I think I might take my R/C gliders out to the slope on the beach and fly them. When I go home tonight (after class), I think that yes, I might continue wasting my life away with a little bit of TV, and hell, why not, I might even fire up my Xbox 360 for a short gaming session. That reminds me, I need to go buy Halo 3. I wish that I didn't get sucked into such a wasteful lifestyle, though. It seems I've accomplished pretty much nothing in my life, and at my old age of 24, I'll never be able to make up for all of that lost time.
All I was trying to say is that what you choose to entertain yourself with is your own personal choice, and because something like TV doesn't carry any entertainment value for you does not mean that the people it does entertain are just losers who are wasting their lives away. Just like anything else, it's all about moderation. If you started to obsess over your oil painting, you would waste your life away doing that as well.
That's a pretty unfair blanket statement. What do you like to do during this time you saved from not watching TV? Maybe play some games on the computer or Xbox, read Slashdot, walk your dog? Why do you do those things? I assume you do them for entertainment. Why is it wrong for an intelligent person--self included--to derive some of his/her entertainment from TV? That is, after all, what it is there for (from the consumer's perspective, anyway). If you spend all day in front of it and let it interfere with your responsibilities and normal lifestyle, then that's another issue - although, that can happen with any form of entertainment, hobby, obsession, etc. I personally enjoy spending a few hours a week winding down and enjoying my favorite shows in glorious HD on my HD monitor. Somehow, meanwhile, I manage to lead a successful, responsible, and enjoyable life. But hey, maybe I'm in the minority, I don't know.
I totally resonate with you there. Although, I ordered online, and it took me about 45 minutes, support from a couple friends, and two hands (one to force the other) to finally click the submit button on the form for my 17" MacBook Pro with AppleCare. And then of course shortly after that Apple comes out with their updated models (higher res screens, nvidia video cards, etc), which felt like the twist of a knife. Immediately the thoughts ran through my head: "I wonder if I can exchange it? Maybe I can just return it and buy the newer model. Worst case, I'll just eBay it for a few hundred less, take the hit, and buy the new one." Apple promptly shot down my first two ideas....only a 14 day return policy, and no exchanges. It was a heartbreaking situation for a geek. After JUST spending a few grand on the best laptop, my shiny MBP is now just a washed up, wrinkly old hag. Well I finally got over myself after using it more and learned to appreciate the beauty of this fine piece of machinery. You can only have the best for such a short period of time anyway in this market.
The problem isn't really that Lycoming and Continental are just lagging and can't get up to today's technology. I think it's more of the fact that any change in design requires them to go through so much to get certified by the FAA. Tons of money must be put into this, as well as tons of testing, etc. This is the same reason why many parts of these planes haven't evolved. Hell, tires on general aviation aircraft from what I understand are still made of pure rubber. It's not worth it to anyone to go through the hoops to be able to sell tires made of synthetic compounds and whatnot. It's simply easier to stick with what works and is already certified.
Well, I will admit it is more a matter of greed and just being geeky than a practical thing. I want the latest and greatest in a laptop since so little can be changed with it and it's not something you buy a new one of every year.
I really would like the NVidia card (along with the new high res display) because I have always been a loyal nvidia customer, and I presume that it outperforms the ATI in my current MBP. Also of course, there's better native Linux support (although I think I'm actually going to run Linux in Parallels, so ok, scratch that point). As far as 802.11n goes, I don't have any equipment for it, but that's something I can easily see happening reasonably soon in my home.
I guess it mostly comes down to having a fairly future-proof device that I can't easily change. I'd hand mine down to my wife, but we haven't met yet. After all, I am too busy sitting here posting on Slashdot to be mingling with those strange creatures I often hear referred to as women.:-)
I just bought a shiny new MBP a month ago, and now this upgrade comes out....I knew this was gonna happen, dammit. Anyone want to buy a previous generation MBP 17" ??:-P
I think the car fell apart and crashed on it's own because the measly 12k the penguin raised didn't put much more than shopping cart wheels on the car.
Slashdot Mirror
That's not the point. Although, it sounds like you're a pilot (which I am too) and I think we can both agree that for the money he put into that we'd take a badass plane over that experiment any day :-)
Libertarian FTW! I too am doing my part to vote (evil) incumbents out and am not settling for what everyone loves to call "the lesser of two evils." Thanks to our media, people forget there are more than two parties in this system.
Agreed. I'd do it in a heartbeat.
... I started seeing all those commercials recently on TV again!
I didn't intend for my post to be any sort of attack on you, and I avoided really using myself as an example of my point because I thought it was unnecessary. But, this is Slashdot, so I should've expected such a response, and I guess I'll bite. To make my point a little clearer, let me tell you a little bit more about myself. I'm a computer science graduate who is a software engineer by day, working on a product that hundreds of thousands of people are using in their home every day, maybe even you (oh, wait, you don't watch TV, so probably not). I also read books, and was actually planning on picking up a new one from Barnes & Noble today or tomorrow. I can't say I've written any, however, so you take the cake there. I have a huge list of activities that I like to do during my spare time. Just to name a few: I'm a licensed pilot, and have been flying since I was 13. I'm currently taking courses at the local community college and am continuing with my flight training to further my aviation career and to make myself a better pilot. I'm also a certified skydiver. I love to get out and play tennis, and when the season is right, I exercise my experience as a snowboarder to shred down the mountains. In the warmer seasons, I'm out on the water a lot wakeboarding, kneeboarding, tubing, you name it. Speaking of water, did I mention that I surf on a regular basis during my lunch breaks? Back at the house, I love being the computer geek that I am, tinkering with different pieces of open-source software, and adding on to my years of experience with Linux. I'm also working on an idea for a fun software project that I can write and contribute back to the open-source community as well.
You know, it's such a nice day out today, I think I might take my R/C gliders out to the slope on the beach and fly them. When I go home tonight (after class), I think that yes, I might continue wasting my life away with a little bit of TV, and hell, why not, I might even fire up my Xbox 360 for a short gaming session. That reminds me, I need to go buy Halo 3. I wish that I didn't get sucked into such a wasteful lifestyle, though. It seems I've accomplished pretty much nothing in my life, and at my old age of 24, I'll never be able to make up for all of that lost time.
All I was trying to say is that what you choose to entertain yourself with is your own personal choice, and because something like TV doesn't carry any entertainment value for you does not mean that the people it does entertain are just losers who are wasting their lives away. Just like anything else, it's all about moderation. If you started to obsess over your oil painting, you would waste your life away doing that as well.
That's a pretty unfair blanket statement. What do you like to do during this time you saved from not watching TV? Maybe play some games on the computer or Xbox, read Slashdot, walk your dog? Why do you do those things? I assume you do them for entertainment. Why is it wrong for an intelligent person--self included--to derive some of his/her entertainment from TV? That is, after all, what it is there for (from the consumer's perspective, anyway). If you spend all day in front of it and let it interfere with your responsibilities and normal lifestyle, then that's another issue - although, that can happen with any form of entertainment, hobby, obsession, etc. I personally enjoy spending a few hours a week winding down and enjoying my favorite shows in glorious HD on my HD monitor. Somehow, meanwhile, I manage to lead a successful, responsible, and enjoyable life. But hey, maybe I'm in the minority, I don't know.
Apparently all those in denial who used this excuse before aren't so far off after all!
I totally resonate with you there. Although, I ordered online, and it took me about 45 minutes, support from a couple friends, and two hands (one to force the other) to finally click the submit button on the form for my 17" MacBook Pro with AppleCare. And then of course shortly after that Apple comes out with their updated models (higher res screens, nvidia video cards, etc), which felt like the twist of a knife. Immediately the thoughts ran through my head: "I wonder if I can exchange it? Maybe I can just return it and buy the newer model. Worst case, I'll just eBay it for a few hundred less, take the hit, and buy the new one." Apple promptly shot down my first two ideas....only a 14 day return policy, and no exchanges. It was a heartbreaking situation for a geek. After JUST spending a few grand on the best laptop, my shiny MBP is now just a washed up, wrinkly old hag. Well I finally got over myself after using it more and learned to appreciate the beauty of this fine piece of machinery. You can only have the best for such a short period of time anyway in this market.
The problem isn't really that Lycoming and Continental are just lagging and can't get up to today's technology. I think it's more of the fact that any change in design requires them to go through so much to get certified by the FAA. Tons of money must be put into this, as well as tons of testing, etc. This is the same reason why many parts of these planes haven't evolved. Hell, tires on general aviation aircraft from what I understand are still made of pure rubber. It's not worth it to anyone to go through the hoops to be able to sell tires made of synthetic compounds and whatnot. It's simply easier to stick with what works and is already certified.
for having the craziest hair in NASA's history!
Ok, this prompted the mandatory... In Soviet Russia, pole pushes you!
Well, I will admit it is more a matter of greed and just being geeky than a practical thing. I want the latest and greatest in a laptop since so little can be changed with it and it's not something you buy a new one of every year. I really would like the NVidia card (along with the new high res display) because I have always been a loyal nvidia customer, and I presume that it outperforms the ATI in my current MBP. Also of course, there's better native Linux support (although I think I'm actually going to run Linux in Parallels, so ok, scratch that point). As far as 802.11n goes, I don't have any equipment for it, but that's something I can easily see happening reasonably soon in my home. I guess it mostly comes down to having a fairly future-proof device that I can't easily change. I'd hand mine down to my wife, but we haven't met yet. After all, I am too busy sitting here posting on Slashdot to be mingling with those strange creatures I often hear referred to as women. :-)
I just bought a shiny new MBP a month ago, and now this upgrade comes out....I knew this was gonna happen, dammit. Anyone want to buy a previous generation MBP 17" ?? :-P
I think the car fell apart and crashed on it's own because the measly 12k the penguin raised didn't put much more than shopping cart wheels on the car.
Oops, sorry NSA, I meant TRANSLTR! Been too long since I read the book.
The NSA's TRANSLATR would've had this computation figured out in no more than 4 hours!