8 track audio was pretty shitty, 4 track mini-cassette archived audio quality close to real to real tapes. A friend of mine bought a 2000$ Nakamichi 4 track recording device in 1985 and the quality was amazing...
Even today, his Nakamichi device might achieve more in term of rendering harmonics that are cut off in a numeric recording. This is especially true for violins and such,,,
Be careful, we are the Asgards. We have been around for much longer than you can humanly imagine and we have already experienced all of what you are experiencing now;-))
This was due to head misalignment, it also occurs with 4 track mini-cassette but it is harder to recognize the interfering song because it is then played backwards;-)
> I hated the cut in the middle of songs, although I don't remember any "good" songs being cut, > usually it was mid-album lamers that got cut.
It did not happen often with top of the chart hits playing on the radio, usually 2 to 4 minutes long songs. It only occurred with non radio suitable albums with pretty long songs, sometimes songs that took the whole side of an LP record (33 rpm).
Technically, the challenge was to split a 2 side LP in 4 equal parts. Otherwise, if one of these 4 parts was considerably shorter than the other ones, you would have to wait much longer before the player switched tracks after the fade-out or the end of the song and that music would start to play again...
When recording my own tapes, I wouldn't bother about that, I would just record straight trough, which meant that I lost a few seconds of data while the tape was going over that metallic stripe that caused the player to switch tracks;-)
At least, there is only one side to those. I still remember listening to Pink Floyd "The dark side of the moon" and "Echoes" while cruising in my car. Even today, when I listen to it on more modern media, I still remember where the sound track would cut for a few seconds in the middle of a song in order to allow the player to change tracks. They did a fade-out in the middle of a song in order to make it sound more appropriated...;-)
For those who don't know 8 tracks, the tape is arranged in a endless loop so it was impossible to rewind the tape;-))) I still have an 8 track recorder in the basement somewhere, I used to record my own tapes;-)
Wow! China seems to really want to enhance its image, any other reason for that move that anybody can envision ? After all, it will be less money going straight into to China... Of course I may be missing something;-)
I watched a program on TV where they visited a company working in this field. They basically employ 30+ people who play the game all day, we saw the player pool on TV while they were playing. They are based in countries where they can pay people very small wages, they take the points earned by those people and resell them with a margin on what they paid the players. Well at least this seems like a simple to understand business model;-)
Just for fun, if you could get paid a decent wage, say same as you are earning now, how many of you would be interested in such a position ?;-) Is it a dream job (playing all day !) or more like a hell job? Note that this could be similar to people getting paid to play all day to find bugs in new games but the qualifications required to get the job may vary a bit...
Maybe the guy is ALWAYS on his PC when at home. Maybe he even falls asleep in front of the PC before waking up in the morning to go do his daily tasks;-))
> Impossible? Maybe for you. Game companies spend more time and effort these days on making it > look & sound pretty than making it fun. > Music and cut scenes are not an essential part of a game. They're a way to promote games for use > in shops & adverts.
I totally agree, try the demo before buying. Heck ! If there is no demo, try the pirated version !
> * 10% sale = 35% increase in sales (real dollars, not units shipped)
> * 25% sale = 245% increase in sales
> * 50% sale = 320% increase in sales
> * 75% sale = 1470% increase in sales
I totally agree again, didn't I write : "This time is over, companies have to provide more competitive prices for people to actually buy the product instead of just opting for the pirated version."
Now for a little sarcasm, I wrote a few games just by myself and this gives me an idea of the effort required to write a game like Crysis. I am still not sure they are making money with it. They probably won't without re-using the engine for other games...
I for one wonders how the game industry still manage to make money. I buy all games legally in hope that they will keep on producing them.
Take Crysis for instance, I bought both releases and like anybody, after a while, I got tired of playing the AI versions of the game and moved to online "Crysis Wars" which I have been playing on-line for hours. The time spent on Crysis Wars is at least an order of magnitude greater that the time I have spent playing the AI versions and there is no recursive cost involved ! My investment has performed in a way so it might have cost me maybe on average 0.01$ an hour to play with the given product.
Have you ever coded any games ? Do you know how long it takes ? Do you know that it is impossible to release something like Crysis with only a handful of developers ?
I find that the money I gave them was a cheap price to pay;-) Before piracy on a large scale, I could have agreed with you that some gaming companies might have charged to much for their products. This time is over, companies have to provide more competitive prices for people to actually buy the product instead of just opting for the pirated version.
Additionally, it doesn't matter what measures are put in place, there will always be cracked versions available.
Finally, I view this issue in a different way than the one about music rights for instance, because of the colossal amount of work required to release the final product : http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=1273015&cid=28371645
Please read my reply to another poster where I state that I agree with CO2 emission limits !!! We have been polluting without regards for the environment for a few centuries now and this type of measures seem adequate :
Your reply tends to confirm my views, we are not allowed to question the data currently used to justify those cuts without being accused of being against the cuts. This is what happened to the university teacher I was talking about also.
This is completely different than people who are against the cuts for profitability reasons.
> I think some kind of legislation is needed to limit pollution and > carbon emissions in the US, even if that means economic > hardship in the short term.
I agree with you, I wrote "I think pollution and waste of energy is stupid and ugly" and carbon emissions are a form of pollution.
I am just questioning what may seem like a lack of objectivity from those defending the cause. It won't help this cause in the long run if it is actually the case. Today's society and politics sometimes seem to lack long-term vision;-)
This is not really news, at least not for myself. I have produced a short report in 2002 with the issues related to e-voting for the GOC and I even suggested minimum requirements, so they were already looking at this back then.
Not much have changed since at probably not much will change in the future with regards to the issues. I guess they will simply go forward with it to save money when it will be politically acceptable.
He his just a servant. I would expect things to change with regards to the issue as years go by. Public servants have to adapt to direction changes in management.
Please let me had that I have always had concerns with regards to the way this whole thing is handled.
Of course I admit than man may cause global warming but I find that we sometimes seem to diverge from scientific reasoning when it comes to this matter. It should come back to a more scientific approach as years go by, the concept is pretty new relatively speaking;-)
In short, people are generally classified in one of these 2 groups (good or evil):
1) The ones who believe that man is responsible from global warming. They are the "good" people.
2) The ones who believe that other factors might be involved. They are the "evil people", which must all have interests in oil companies.
At the local university, a teacher produced a paper after conducting scientific observations. He found that we may be jumping to conclusion to fast with this issue. The teacher lost his reputation, his neighbors quit talking to him. He is now viewed as an evil person who must secretly work for oil companies. This is scary when nobody is allowed to express a divergent opinion. It reminds me the middle ages.
On a funny note, after having had 3 extremely hot summers where I live, this summer is abnormally cold compared to the average temperatures of the last century, does this mean that global warming is over ?;-)
Note: I am not affiliated with any oil companies, I do not drive a vehicle and I think pollution and waste of energy is stupid and ugly. I agree with the principle "Make the polluter pay". In short, I have leftish views with regards to the environmental issues but I am questioning the current way we handle this problem from a scientific perspective.
First, let me say that I find Nielsen's idea kind of silly, just like yourself.
I am just trying to find points in his favor;-) Sometimes, we take things for granted just because we have been doing them a given way for years.
Having your computer visible from a window is insecure so I was talking about getting physical access to the premises to install a camera.
Let's face it, if you install your display in such a way that it is visible from the window, you should then need to mask all sensitive info; your bank account number, your SSN, your address, your date of birth, etc. . Heck, sensitive documents should display entirely masked as well !
We know who you are, we were just conducting tests and installing tools to enhance your dedicated internet connection.
Now that you have made this public, could you come to the local authorities station right away so we can settle things up ?
If you do not come, we will have to go get you at your work place and we would like to avoid this embarrassment for yourself. We also have enabled airport and border checks for yourself so you won't be allowed to leave the country before we meet.
Regards, Liu Cheng Security officer, Republic of China
Quakes occur when tectonic plates move. Say 2 tectonic plates moved and cause a quake. They moved when pressure build up to a point of X. It needed to reach X in order to move. The quake would not have occurred if it had only reached X- 0.0001.
Now it is hard to understand in detail ALL factors that cause the pressure to build up in the first place although some factors are pretty well understood. It is very possible that we could have pressure (or tension) building up to X-0.05 then go back by itself to, say, X - 4000 and that a quake will never occur.
In this perspective, it doesn't matter if the pressure we add is small relatively to the already existing pressure (or tension).
Other posters have mentioned interesting issues with man causing quakes to avoid the next big ones. Another poster has mentioned that this is in fact experimental R&D in order to acquire the technology to harness that energy. I kind of agree with this idea; if it blows, try later with new technology, if it works; profit !
Pretending that there is no risk and that damage that may occur would have occurred anyway seems a little bogus to me. There is always a risk in some venture of this is one of them for that one. Of course they are not going to go out saying; "Oh yes, by the way there is a little risk of earthquakes."
In TFA, they say artificially caused quakes are easy to identify:
Analysis of seismic data proved him correct. The quake measured 3.4 modest in some parts of the world. But triggered quakes tend to be shallower than natural ones, and residents generally describe them as a single, explosive bang or jolt often out of proportion to the magnitude rather than a rumble.
Triggered quakes are also frequently accompanied by an air shock, a loud tearing or roaring noise.
The noise made me feel it was some sort of supersonic aircraft going overhead, said Heinrich Schwendener, who, as president of Geopower Basel, the consortium that includes Geothermal Explorers and the utility companies, was standing next to the borehole.
It took me maybe half a minute to realize, hey, this is not a supersonic plane, this is my well, Mr. Schwendener said.
In TFA, they say they add pressure to the system, what you are talking about could be valid if it wasn't for that fact. By artificially adding pressure, I would assume that they may cause something to move which would NEVER have moved otherwise.
Slashdot Mirror
Very true, you could even sometimes notice that effect on master recordings, usually 24 to 32 tracks real to real tapes.
8 track audio was pretty shitty, 4 track mini-cassette archived audio quality close to real to real tapes. A friend of mine bought a 2000$ Nakamichi 4 track recording device in 1985 and the quality was amazing...
Even today, his Nakamichi device might achieve more in term of rendering harmonics that are cut off in a numeric recording. This is especially true for violins and such,,,
Right, it was a chick magnet in 1972 although ;-)
Be careful, we are the Asgards. We have been around for much longer than you can humanly imagine and we have already experienced all of what you are experiencing now ;-))
This was due to head misalignment, it also occurs with 4 track mini-cassette but it is harder to recognize the interfering song because it is then played backwards ;-)
> I hated the cut in the middle of songs, although I don't remember any "good" songs being cut,
> usually it was mid-album lamers that got cut.
It did not happen often with top of the chart hits playing on the radio, usually 2 to 4 minutes long songs. It only occurred with non radio suitable albums with pretty long songs, sometimes songs that took the whole side of an LP record (33 rpm).
Technically, the challenge was to split a 2 side LP in 4 equal parts. Otherwise, if one of these 4 parts was considerably shorter than the other ones, you would have to wait much longer before the player switched tracks after the fade-out or the end of the song and that music would start to play again...
When recording my own tapes, I wouldn't bother about that, I would just record straight trough, which meant that I lost a few seconds of data while the tape was going over that metallic stripe that caused the player to switch tracks ;-)
About giving him an 8 track cartridge tape ?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stereo_8
At least, there is only one side to those. I still remember listening to Pink Floyd "The dark side of the moon" and "Echoes" while cruising in my car. Even today, when I listen to it on more modern media, I still remember where the sound track would cut for a few seconds in the middle of a song in order to allow the player to change tracks. They did a fade-out in the middle of a song in order to make it sound more appropriated... ;-)
8-tracks came before 4 track mini-cassette :
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mini_Cassette
For those who don't know 8 tracks, the tape is arranged in a endless loop so it was impossible to rewind the tape ;-))) I still have an 8 track recorder in the basement somewhere, I used to record my own tapes ;-)
Wow! China seems to really want to enhance its image, any other reason for that move that anybody can envision ? After all, it will be less money going straight into to China... Of course I may be missing something ;-)
I watched a program on TV where they visited a company working in this field. They basically employ 30+ people who play the game all day, we saw the player pool on TV while they were playing. They are based in countries where they can pay people very small wages, they take the points earned by those people and resell them with a margin on what they paid the players. Well at least this seems like a simple to understand business model ;-)
Just for fun, if you could get paid a decent wage, say same as you are earning now, how many of you would be interested in such a position ? ;-) Is it a dream job (playing all day !) or more like a hell job? Note that this could be similar to people getting paid to play all day to find bugs in new games but the qualifications required to get the job may vary a bit...
Maybe the guy is ALWAYS on his PC when at home. Maybe he even falls asleep in front of the PC before waking up in the morning to go do his daily tasks ;-))
> Impossible? Maybe for you. Game companies spend more time and effort these days on making it
> look & sound pretty than making it fun.
> Music and cut scenes are not an essential part of a game. They're a way to promote games for use
> in shops & adverts.
I totally agree, try the demo before buying. Heck ! If there is no demo, try the pirated version !
> * 10% sale = 35% increase in sales (real dollars, not units shipped)
> * 25% sale = 245% increase in sales
> * 50% sale = 320% increase in sales
> * 75% sale = 1470% increase in sales
I totally agree again, didn't I write :
"This time is over, companies have to provide more competitive prices for people to actually buy the product instead of just opting for the pirated version."
Now for a little sarcasm, I wrote a few games just by myself and this gives me an idea of the effort required to write a game like Crysis. I am still not sure they are making money with it. They probably won't without re-using the engine for other games...
I for one wonders how the game industry still manage to make money. I buy all games legally in hope that they will keep on producing them.
Take Crysis for instance, I bought both releases and like anybody, after a while, I got tired of playing the AI versions of the game and moved to online "Crysis Wars" which I have been playing on-line for hours. The time spent on Crysis Wars is at least an order of magnitude greater that the time I have spent playing the AI versions and there is no recursive cost involved ! My investment has performed in a way so it might have cost me maybe on average 0.01$ an hour to play with the given product.
Have you ever coded any games ? Do you know how long it takes ? Do you know that it is impossible to release something like Crysis with only a handful of developers ?
I find that the money I gave them was a cheap price to pay ;-) Before piracy on a large scale, I could have agreed with you that some gaming companies might have charged to much for their products. This time is over, companies have to provide more competitive prices for people to actually buy the product instead of just opting for the pirated version.
Additionally, it doesn't matter what measures are put in place, there will always be cracked versions available.
Finally, I view this issue in a different way than the one about music rights for instance, because of the colossal amount of work required to release the final product :
http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=1273015&cid=28371645
Please read my reply to another poster where I state that I agree with CO2 emission limits !!! We have been polluting without regards for the environment for a few centuries now and this type of measures seem adequate :
http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=1284507&cid=28503515
Your reply tends to confirm my views, we are not allowed to question the data currently used to justify those cuts without being accused of being against the cuts. This is what happened to the university teacher I was talking about also.
This is completely different than people who are against the cuts for profitability reasons.
> I think some kind of legislation is needed to limit pollution and
> carbon emissions in the US, even if that means economic
> hardship in the short term.
I agree with you, I wrote "I think pollution and waste of energy is stupid and ugly" and carbon emissions are a form of pollution.
I am just questioning what may seem like a lack of objectivity from those defending the cause. It won't help this cause in the long run if it is actually the case. Today's society and politics sometimes seem to lack long-term vision ;-)
This is not really news, at least not for myself. I have produced a short report in 2002 with the issues related to e-voting for the GOC and I even suggested minimum requirements, so they were already looking at this back then.
Not much have changed since at probably not much will change in the future with regards to the issues. I guess they will simply go forward with it to save money when it will be politically acceptable.
He his just a servant. I would expect things to change with regards to the issue as years go by. Public servants have to adapt to direction changes in management.
Please let me had that I have always had concerns with regards to the way this whole thing is handled.
Of course I admit than man may cause global warming but I find that we sometimes seem to diverge from scientific reasoning when it comes to this matter. It should come back to a more scientific approach as years go by, the concept is pretty new relatively speaking ;-)
In short, people are generally classified in one of these 2 groups (good or evil):
1) The ones who believe that man is responsible from global warming. They are the "good" people.
2) The ones who believe that other factors might be involved. They are the "evil people", which must all have interests in oil companies.
At the local university, a teacher produced a paper after conducting scientific observations. He found that we may be jumping to conclusion to fast with this issue. The teacher lost his reputation, his neighbors quit talking to him. He is now viewed as an evil person who must secretly work for oil companies. This is scary when nobody is allowed to express a divergent opinion. It reminds me the middle ages.
On a funny note, after having had 3 extremely hot summers where I live, this summer is abnormally cold compared to the average temperatures of the last century, does this mean that global warming is over ? ;-)
Note: I am not affiliated with any oil companies, I do not drive a vehicle and I think pollution and waste of energy is stupid and ugly. I agree with the principle "Make the polluter pay". In short, I have leftish views with regards to the environmental issues but I am questioning the current way we handle this problem from a scientific perspective.
Nope, it's a pig-bear-man (no picture avail).
1. Create a wheel group in /etc/groups
2. Change the permissions of the su command so that only those in the wheel group may run it.
That's all there is to it.
http://administratosphere.wordpress.com/2007/07/19/the-wheel-group/
First, let me say that I find Nielsen's idea kind of silly, just like yourself.
I am just trying to find points in his favor ;-) Sometimes, we take things for granted just because we have been doing them a given way for years.
Having your computer visible from a window is insecure so I was talking about getting physical access to the premises to install a camera.
Let's face it, if you install your display in such a way that it is visible from the window, you should then need to mask all sensitive info; your bank account number, your SSN, your address, your date of birth, etc. . Heck, sensitive documents should display entirely masked as well !
I am just playing the devil's advocate here...
You guys start to make me believe that Nielsen is right !
See how confusing your example might be for an average Joe user. He may even give his password away based on your examples !
Masking passwords would then constitute a security risk, lets abolish that ! ;-)
Keyboard sniffers (especially software ones) are a lot easier to install than cameras by remote attackers, I guess the guy has got a point !
Dear Sir,
We know who you are, we were just conducting tests and installing tools to enhance your dedicated internet connection.
Now that you have made this public, could you come to the local authorities station right away so we can settle things up ?
If you do not come, we will have to go get you at your work place and we would like to avoid this embarrassment for yourself. We also have enabled airport and border checks for yourself so you won't be allowed to leave the country before we meet.
Regards,
Liu Cheng
Security officer,
Republic of China
I guess is pont is this :
Quakes occur when tectonic plates move. Say 2 tectonic plates moved and cause a quake. They moved when pressure build up to a point of X. It needed to reach X in order to move. The quake would not have occurred if it had only reached X- 0.0001.
Now it is hard to understand in detail ALL factors that cause the pressure to build up in the first place although some factors are pretty well understood. It is very possible that we could have pressure (or tension) building up to X-0.05 then go back by itself to, say, X - 4000 and that a quake will never occur.
In this perspective, it doesn't matter if the pressure we add is small relatively to the already existing pressure (or tension).
Other posters have mentioned interesting issues with man causing quakes to avoid the next big ones. Another poster has mentioned that this is in fact experimental R&D in order to acquire the technology to harness that energy. I kind of agree with this idea; if it blows, try later with new technology, if it works; profit !
Pretending that there is no risk and that damage that may occur would have occurred anyway seems a little bogus to me. There is always a risk in some venture of this is one of them for that one. Of course they are not going to go out saying; "Oh yes, by the way there is a little risk of earthquakes."
`has not agreed to voluntarily disclose by not providing the fact that a quake occurred in Switzerland."
There, fixed for you ;-))
In TFA, they say artificially caused quakes are easy to identify:
Analysis of seismic data proved him correct. The quake measured 3.4 modest in some parts of the world. But triggered quakes tend to be shallower than natural ones, and residents generally describe them as a single, explosive bang or jolt often out of proportion to the magnitude rather than a rumble.
Triggered quakes are also frequently accompanied by an air shock, a loud tearing or roaring noise.
The noise made me feel it was some sort of supersonic aircraft going overhead, said Heinrich Schwendener, who, as president of Geopower Basel, the consortium that includes Geothermal Explorers and the utility companies, was standing next to the borehole.
It took me maybe half a minute to realize, hey, this is not a supersonic plane, this is my well, Mr. Schwendener said.
In TFA, they say they add pressure to the system, what you are talking about could be valid if it wasn't for that fact. By artificially adding pressure, I would assume that they may cause something to move which would NEVER have moved otherwise.