Apparently none of the sponsors on PBS stations will try to _sell_ you anything, but rather just get their name out. Guess that's good for those who are easily brainwashed..
Seems like a nice distinction but in reality it isn't. Most TV advertising is to establish brand recognition rather than directly telling you to buy stuff. Look at how few advertisments actually tell you to "Buy this". Many of them don't even try to extol the virtues of the product ("Here is a funny ad, let's mention the product in passing").
So in my mind, advertising is advertising. I was considering donating some money to PBS (I am originally from England so I feel that ad free television is a good thing and I heard that PBS is a great thing). But then I noticed the "brought to you by" ads at the beginning/end of programs. So I am holding off while I reconsider my position.
The funny thing is that in the UK, on the commercial channels, in-between-program advertising used to be OK but "brought to you by" advertising wasn't allowed. It caused a (small) fuss when they started allowing it. Not only that but the "brought to you by" advertising was often particularly annoying (content, not just by being there). That's partly why I'm against it but it has to be said that for childrens' programs, it's a heck of a lot better than "Buy this new sparkly plasticy thing"
Don't forget transparency. to boot Linux, all you really need is a filesystem, the kernel and something for it to run (init). I hate to think what spaghetti you need to get windows up on two (unsteady) feet. In Windows, the GUI is part of the OS and as you say, most embedded environments don't need a GUI (or at least nothing at win32 level).
Microsoft *could* create an embedded OS but it really couldn't be anything like Windows as we know it. I mean, how can you fit Internet Explorer into 64k? (It is an essential part of an OS after all)
It's a good analogy actually, with torches, as with open source, if someone needs some light, there is no need to pass them your torch, thay can just light their own off of the flame of yours.
If you really really want PPC Linux, you can make the mods to run it yourself. If you want a Linux that compiles on everything out of the box, fork the kernel. If it's worth doing, it will be supported. If it isn't supported, it wasn't worth doing.
Ah, in that case you may want to watch your AC efficiencies. If the one in the back is less efficient, it may end up working harder to compensate for the lack of the front one and in the end, end up costing you more.
I may sit down and work out the power ratio thing sometime. For example, it may be worth leaving your AC on all day if say it costs you $1 a day more but you're willing to offset that for the comfort value of a cool house. Of course, as I say, the timer fixes that but you have to factor the cost of that in too and then the value of the times when maybe you come home early and it's too hot for you. Then again, in a warmer house, your fridge works harder (unlikely to be enough to offset the cost but a factor nonetheless).
It's all relevant to me as we have just bought a new place and the air conditioner is going in soon. I intend to investigate whether the one we are getting installed (used) would be better replaced with something more modern and efficient (heat pumps are better than heaters in winter in any case)
But isn't this assuming that the AC is on all the time, rather than being switched on and off via a
thermostat?
No, another way to think of the thermostat is that rather than running an on/off cycle, it is running at n% power (over sufficiently long periods of time). If you look at the power graphs, it can easily be shown that even for the shortest periods of time, it is better (from an energy usage point of view) to turn the AC off than leave it running if noone is gaining any benefit from it (your animals would qualify:) )
The electricity company probably wants people to leave their ACs running because they are concerned at the surge when everyone gets home at 6pm and turns on the AC, the TV, brews some coffee and puts on the hot water for a bath.
If you just want the temperature to be reasonable when you get home, you're far better off investing in a timer that brings it on 30 mins before you get home than running it all day (Although, *you* do have your animals to consider too)
Coming from the guy whose work
spawned the WWW, this is some speculation worth taking seriously
Coming from the guy who hopes to make money out of YACSSL (Yet Another Client Side Scripting Language), one might begin to think that the WWW was a fluke.
but it takes more energy to
maintain the temperature at 85 all day than the difference.
Before anyone contradicts him, what this guy is saying is right. If you don't believe it, I have a couple of differential equations to show you.
Easier though is to do it by induction. Lets make the time you're out of the house ridiculously long. If you are away for two years, is it cheaper to leave the AC running at a slightly higher temperature or just switch it off? If it's true for two years, it's true for 1, it's true for a day or 6 hours.
I think this fallacy may be linked to the fluorescent light thing where because they use a lot of energy to start up, it is cheaper to leave them on (up to a certain period of time, not permanently) than switch them off. However, this works because the fluorescent light is doing no useful work (producing light) when you switch it on. An AC starts cooling your house as soon as it's running.
Charles Dickens' novels were originally released in serial form. Several of his storylines were influenced by his readers writing in. This may be why they are (IMO) so crap.
Ah, but you're missing the point. Sure the logo enables arbitrary price rises but the price rise is the reason for the logo. By wearing logoed clothes, you are saying "Look at me, I have disposable income to wasteon irrelevancies, I'm a good catch". Think peacocks. Those large tailfeathers serve no practical purpose and they don't come for free either you know.
Perhaps you don't wear designer clothes, I know I don't. it would be interesting to have divined the reason why geeks tend not to wear designer. Is it because we're too tight? Do we view such purchases on a more intellectual level than the "peacocks" (i.e. by giving my money to designer labels, I am just increasing the designers ability to attrct mates)? Are we not so interested in attracting mates or perhaps we would rather divert the effort (money, energy) into other mate attracting strategies [And this may be more subtle than just thinking that Chicks dig Athlons].
This disease would be very
dangerous to have in doctors and shrinks, etc., since whoever checks them?
I know someone who had a shrink that kept calling the police, telling them that her patients (one per call, not in a group) were about to comit suicide. She got into big trouble about it eventually.
Having known a few people doing psychology degrees, I've come to believe that they enter the field in an attempt to understand their own psychosies
where Bill Gates invented the Internet. If you look just here, you can see the shoe marks where Al Gore stood over his shoulder offering suggentions."
Rich
Re:Ha! Metric unit of mass is still a chunk of met
on
Uncle Sam's Funhouse
·
· Score: 1
Yes. That's correct. I forget what a pint is in metric but it's 537ml or something like that. It's something that you also have to take into account when comparing gas prices between the UK and the US (though the price in the UK is still many times that in the US and I still raise a wry smile when I hear Americans complaining about their gas prices).
I mean, $20 to fill up my minivan? My car I had in the UK would take 60UKP to fill (~$100).
Rich
Re:Ha! Metric unit of mass is still a chunk of met
on
Uncle Sam's Funhouse
·
· Score: 2
A pint's a pound the world around
1 UK pint=20 flOz, 1 US pint=16 flOz. An ounce is the same both places and so is an lb (or as near as dammit).
So I guess that puts the lie to that. Unless you use the American Standard Definition of "The World" which means anything bordered by Canada,Mexico, the Pacific and the Atlantic.
that "a 6 foot aluminum sphere with microwave plasma lamps" can "occur daily". That scares me.
Someone please mod slashdot so that articles get proofread before being submitted. If nothing else, could Roblimo (a real journalist) at least go and slap these guys around a little bit.
Aw heck, guys. Come on, fair enough if you don't think it's funny. Overrated fine. Flamebait even. But how in the heck could you think it was a troll or offtopic?
It is a satire on Doug Miller's suggestion that there should be only one GUI for the world. Jeez, I bet all your other friends have to explain jokes to you too.
I hope we can now finally dismiss the "Opps, the DMCA was an accident" claims of orrin hatch and his apologists and agree that he is in the pockets of the MPAA/RIAA and pro consumer exploitation/anti citizens rights
I think a massively distributed effort is required just to make it through that article. I gave up after about the first three pages. So that would be about 0.7%
The scene: The Galapagos Islands, on board "The Beagle" which has been at anchor for two weeks. We are in Charles Darwin's cabin, he is studying some books intently
A knock at the door
Darwin: Come in
Dougabus Miller, a young socialite enters. Dougabus has made his money by exploiting a monopoly on grain exports to Namibia to extract exorbitant prices and to force unecessary purchases of umbrellas from his factory in Scunthorpe. On board the Beagle by accident (he thought he was boarding a ship bound for Jamaica for a two week "fun in the sun" holiday), he amuses himself by pestering anyone who will pay him attention
Dougabus: Hey-ho, Darwin. What's up.
Darwin: I am just finishing up these drawings for my journal
Dougabus: Drawings? Nothing Lewd I hope? Can I have a look?
Darwin: No, Dougabus. Nothing like that. I am drawing the finches that we have been studying on the island that Jaques noticed on Sunday
Dougabus: Finches? That's rather a lot of drawings you have there. Why so many? Why not just one? Isn't one finch much like another?
Darwin: Ah no, you see, young Dougabus. That is the interesting thing. Each of these finches is slightly different. See, this one has a beak adapted for pulling insects from bark, this one a beak adapted for cracking open small snails and this one, claws that can open this shrink wrap on CDs in under a second. All slightly different, all adapted to exploit their environment to the maximum.
Dougabus: Well, Darwin, old chap. I don't see it. I mean, surely all these differences just cause confusion for the lady finches and finding a dinner jacket to fit must be pure hell. No, they should take the best features from each of these "adaptations" and unite them. Then they would have the strength and the power to rise up, march forward and TAKE OVER THE WORLD! Muahahahah Muahaha Muahahaha Hahahaha
Darwin: No, you see...
Dougabus: Muahahah Muahahahaaaaa
Darwin: Dougabus!
Dougabus: Muahaha Muaha All your base are belong to us Muahaha
Darwin: Stop it
Dougabus: Muahahahahahahahahahahahahah aha
Darwin reaches down and draws gun from under the table
Darwin: The things I do for evolution.
Darwin points the gun at Dougabus and pulls the trigger. A loud bang rings out and Dougabus falls to the ground, fatally wounded
Dougabus: Muaha?
Darwin puts the gun down, having saved the human race for another day. Unfortunately, unbeknownst to Darwin, at that very moment, a seamstress from Portsmouth Harbour is carrying the spawn of Dougabus Miller.
If the Linux
community could take the best thinking from both the KDE and GNOME
projects and join forces, they would have the best chance for success.
I believe I have just seen the first ever attempt at "unite and conquer".
Sure, unite up then Microsoft only has a single target to aim for and squash. I personally think the strength *is* in the diversity. Otherwise we'd all just be stuck with some extension of twm.
Slashdot Mirror
Seems like a nice distinction but in reality it isn't. Most TV advertising is to establish brand recognition rather than directly telling you to buy stuff. Look at how few advertisments actually tell you to "Buy this". Many of them don't even try to extol the virtues of the product ("Here is a funny ad, let's mention the product in passing").
So in my mind, advertising is advertising. I was considering donating some money to PBS (I am originally from England so I feel that ad free television is a good thing and I heard that PBS is a great thing). But then I noticed the "brought to you by" ads at the beginning/end of programs. So I am holding off while I reconsider my position.
The funny thing is that in the UK, on the commercial channels, in-between-program advertising used to be OK but "brought to you by" advertising wasn't allowed. It caused a (small) fuss when they started allowing it. Not only that but the "brought to you by" advertising was often particularly annoying (content, not just by being there). That's partly why I'm against it but it has to be said that for childrens' programs, it's a heck of a lot better than "Buy this new sparkly plasticy thing"
Rich
Microsoft *could* create an embedded OS but it really couldn't be anything like Windows as we know it. I mean, how can you fit Internet Explorer into 64k? (It is an essential part of an OS after all)
Rich
It's a good analogy actually, with torches, as with open source, if someone needs some light, there is no need to pass them your torch, thay can just light their own off of the flame of yours.
If you really really want PPC Linux, you can make the mods to run it yourself. If you want a Linux that compiles on everything out of the box, fork the kernel. If it's worth doing, it will be supported. If it isn't supported, it wasn't worth doing.
Rich
Rich
I may sit down and work out the power ratio thing sometime. For example, it may be worth leaving your AC on all day if say it costs you $1 a day more but you're willing to offset that for the comfort value of a cool house. Of course, as I say, the timer fixes that but you have to factor the cost of that in too and then the value of the times when maybe you come home early and it's too hot for you. Then again, in a warmer house, your fridge works harder (unlikely to be enough to offset the cost but a factor nonetheless).
It's all relevant to me as we have just bought a new place and the air conditioner is going in soon. I intend to investigate whether the one we are getting installed (used) would be better replaced with something more modern and efficient (heat pumps are better than heaters in winter in any case)
Rich
No, another way to think of the thermostat is that rather than running an on/off cycle, it is running at n% power (over sufficiently long periods of time). If you look at the power graphs, it can easily be shown that even for the shortest periods of time, it is better (from an energy usage point of view) to turn the AC off than leave it running if noone is gaining any benefit from it (your animals would qualify :) )
The electricity company probably wants people to leave their ACs running because they are concerned at the surge when everyone gets home at 6pm and turns on the AC, the TV, brews some coffee and puts on the hot water for a bath.
If you just want the temperature to be reasonable when you get home, you're far better off investing in a timer that brings it on 30 mins before you get home than running it all day (Although, *you* do have your animals to consider too)
Rich
Coming from the guy who hopes to make money out of YACSSL (Yet Another Client Side Scripting Language), one might begin to think that the WWW was a fluke.
Rich
Next chapter: Constructing sentences.
Rich
Before anyone contradicts him, what this guy is saying is right. If you don't believe it, I have a couple of differential equations to show you.
Easier though is to do it by induction. Lets make the time you're out of the house ridiculously long. If you are away for two years, is it cheaper to leave the AC running at a slightly higher temperature or just switch it off? If it's true for two years, it's true for 1, it's true for a day or 6 hours.
I think this fallacy may be linked to the fluorescent light thing where because they use a lot of energy to start up, it is cheaper to leave them on (up to a certain period of time, not permanently) than switch them off. However, this works because the fluorescent light is doing no useful work (producing light) when you switch it on. An AC starts cooling your house as soon as it's running.
Rich
Rich
Rich
Rich
Perhaps you don't wear designer clothes, I know I don't. it would be interesting to have divined the reason why geeks tend not to wear designer. Is it because we're too tight? Do we view such purchases on a more intellectual level than the "peacocks" (i.e. by giving my money to designer labels, I am just increasing the designers ability to attrct mates)? Are we not so interested in attracting mates or perhaps we would rather divert the effort (money, energy) into other mate attracting strategies [And this may be more subtle than just thinking that Chicks dig Athlons].
Rich
I know someone who had a shrink that kept calling the police, telling them that her patients (one per call, not in a group) were about to comit suicide. She got into big trouble about it eventually.
Having known a few people doing psychology degrees, I've come to believe that they enter the field in an attempt to understand their own psychosies
Rich
Rich
I mean, $20 to fill up my minivan? My car I had in the UK would take 60UKP to fill (~$100).
Rich
1 UK pint=20 flOz, 1 US pint=16 flOz. An ounce is the same both places and so is an lb (or as near as dammit).
So I guess that puts the lie to that. Unless you use the American Standard Definition of "The World" which means anything bordered by Canada,Mexico, the Pacific and the Atlantic.
Rich
Someone please mod slashdot so that articles get proofread before being submitted. If nothing else, could Roblimo (a real journalist) at least go and slap these guys around a little bit.
Rich
It is a satire on Doug Miller's suggestion that there should be only one GUI for the world. Jeez, I bet all your other friends have to explain jokes to you too.
Rich
Rich
Rich
Rich
A knock at the door
Darwin: Come in
Dougabus Miller, a young socialite enters. Dougabus has made his money by exploiting a monopoly on grain exports to Namibia to extract exorbitant prices and to force unecessary purchases of umbrellas from his factory in Scunthorpe. On board the Beagle by accident (he thought he was boarding a ship bound for Jamaica for a two week "fun in the sun" holiday), he amuses himself by pestering anyone who will pay him attention
Dougabus: Hey-ho, Darwin. What's up.
Darwin: I am just finishing up these drawings for my journal
Dougabus: Drawings? Nothing Lewd I hope? Can I have a look?
Darwin: No, Dougabus. Nothing like that. I am drawing the finches that we have been studying on the island that Jaques noticed on Sunday
Dougabus: Finches? That's rather a lot of drawings you have there. Why so many? Why not just one? Isn't one finch much like another?
Darwin: Ah no, you see, young Dougabus. That is the interesting thing. Each of these finches is slightly different. See, this one has a beak adapted for pulling insects from bark, this one a beak adapted for cracking open small snails and this one, claws that can open this shrink wrap on CDs in under a second. All slightly different, all adapted to exploit their environment to the maximum.
Dougabus: Well, Darwin, old chap. I don't see it. I mean, surely all these differences just cause confusion for the lady finches and finding a dinner jacket to fit must be pure hell. No, they should take the best features from each of these "adaptations" and unite them. Then they would have the strength and the power to rise up, march forward and TAKE OVER THE WORLD! Muahahahah Muahaha Muahahaha Hahahaha
Darwin: No, you see...
Dougabus: Muahahah Muahahahaaaaa
Darwin: Dougabus!
Dougabus: Muahaha Muaha All your base are belong to us Muahaha
Darwin: Stop it
Dougabus: Muahahahahahahahahahahahahah aha
Darwin reaches down and draws gun from under the table
Darwin: The things I do for evolution.
Darwin points the gun at Dougabus and pulls the trigger. A loud bang rings out and Dougabus falls to the ground, fatally wounded
Dougabus: Muaha?
Darwin puts the gun down, having saved the human race for another day. Unfortunately, unbeknownst to Darwin, at that very moment, a seamstress from Portsmouth Harbour is carrying the spawn of Dougabus Miller.
The End
Rich
I believe I have just seen the first ever attempt at "unite and conquer".
Sure, unite up then Microsoft only has a single target to aim for and squash. I personally think the strength *is* in the diversity. Otherwise we'd all just be stuck with some extension of twm.
Rich
--
RMS
Rich