As you might guess, the article title and summary are incorrect. The scientists *didn't* write a memory into the fly's brain, they exposed it to something to memorize (the smell) and then artificially triggered the store-this-as-bad circuitry. Which is still cool and interesting and all that.
No, the article and summary are rather correct.
The fly's actual *experience* is of a smell that they didn't think was all that bad, but later, when they encountered the smell again, they remembered it as being something bad.
It's like if you ate some normal food, but a mad scientist tricked your brain into adding the "I didn't like this" flag to it while you were eating it. At the time, your emotion was a pleasantly eating some food, but later, when you encounter the food again, you feel repulsed by it, remembering it from before as being notably unpleasant.
They dig their heads on the sand and pretend that with a growing population we can just conserve our way out of this crisis
And to dig your head in the sand and pretend that with a growing population we can just consume our way out of this crisis is any better?
Then they try to impose draconian restrictions on the rest of us.
"Oh no! They're going to outlaw low efficiency TVs when higher efficiency TVs exist!"
The hyperbolic stance of you and your ilk is just as much a problem, perhaps even more so, as the people who oppose any sort of new energy plant. We will need to increase energy production, there's no doubt about that, but we also need to make better use of the energy we already have, there's no doubt about that, either.
So quit being part of the problem. Just because you call out the foolishness from the other side of the debate doesn't excuse *your* foolishness.
Only problem is you yanks keep coming down here and taking local public offices
Hey, we're just sending our rejects packing, it's *your* fault if you keep accepting them as one of your own, voting them into office, building them up then sending them back north stronger and just as dumb as ever.
*You've* got to stop voting for them, ok? You just never know where that might lead. I realize every now and then one of them will be a problem, but the way to save your baseball team *wasn't* to elect that guy as governor...
Either way what Michael Dell says as the CEO of Dell doesn't reflect his personal opinion, just like any other CEO, or anybody working within management, your professional opinion can be in complete contrast to your personal opinion.
But when someone's "professional" opinion doesn't match their personal opinion, neither opinion is worth shit.
If he's trying to tell us how good Windows 7 is, when he won't even run it himself, that takes *all* of the legitimacy out of his statement.
Also something noteworthy is that the life situation of Michael Dell, as a multibillionare, is very different from the vast majority; thus whatever Michael Dell chooses will most likely not reflect what's best for you as an average income consumer.
There are "rich people" cars and "rich people" vacation packages and "rich people" clothes, etc., but there isn't a "rich people" OS.
There aren't even "rich people" computers. There are high end PCs and Mac Pros, but these are just expensive variants of their cheaper brethren, and run the same OS's. It's not like he's using some sort of exotic computer that can't run Windows.
Except that noone seriously considers the iPhone a serious gaming device, especially not the gaming community.
Which is an exceptionally meaningless statement. All that matters is if it sates most people's need for games. And this is something it does *very* well.
Just because Apple wants it to be one doesn't make it one.
No, but the exceptional success of games on the App Store *does* make it one. You can go on all you want about lack of a control pad, but that comes across more as trying to justify a prejudiced conclusion than coming up with an argument that matches reality, *especially* when there is such a large number of people who are completely satisfied using an iPhone/iPod as their primary portable gaming device.
And to be honest, I think it's far more plausible that Nintendo would get Skype onto the DSi than the iPhone ever becoming a legitimate threat to Nintendo's portable marketshare.
Skype on the DSi will have *zero* effect on the iPhone. On the other hand, choosing to use the iPhone as one's portable gaming system *will* adversely affect Nintendo's market share.
Make no mistake, there are a *lot* of people who have an iPhone today who might otherwise have bought a DS, but now have absolutely no desire to buy one. There is pretty much no one with a DS that no longer want an iPhone. This will remain true even with Skype on a DS, or even a full-fledged DS Phone.
That's reality. That's how things actually are. Just because you don't think an iPhone is a gaming device, or you just don't like the iPhone, or whatever... None of that alters reality.
I agree. I think Apple has far more to fear from Nintendo than Nintendo does from Apple.
How so?
Apple has very little to fear from Nintendo. There's no way a DS Phone would take off, and even if it did, it's not going to decimate the iPhone market.
Conversely, Nintendo doesn't have anything to fear currently with regards to their Wii market, but their DS market is very much vulnerable to the iPhone/iPod touch. I'm not saying the DS is going away any time soon, but that it could very well dry up as people decide that with their iPhone/iPod they don't really need a dedicated gaming device.
Certainly, there would be people who would choose the opposite route were Nintento to release a phone, but I'm highly confident that significantly more people would choose the Apple option over the Nintendo option.
Let me ask you: what do you consider positive about a fanboy?
It just means the same thing as being a sports fan of a particular team. You could easily ask the same thing about that ("what's so good about it?"), and the answer, while different primarily because it's about a different topic, would be pretty much the same.
As for an actual answer, people don't become "fanboys" entirely without reason, as you're implying in your other posts. People become fans of Apple (quite often), Sony (not as much), MS (on the Xbox, a lot, on the desktop, not so much) for some reason. They like the aesthetics, overall quality, and ease of use (Apple), they like like the high-tech design and in-brand interoperability (Sony), they like the gamer-centric focus (MS Xbox) and they like the "woot, woot, we're number one, bitches!" (MS, desktop).
Some people are VW fanboys, or pokemon fanboys, or science fanboys, or whatever. It takes a real douche, however, to give people shit for liking something a lot. The only time fanboys really become a problem is when they start putting other people down excessively. It's one thing to say "Macs are better" or "I wouldn't buy a PC", but it's an entirely other thing to start calling all Windows users idiots or something, just like it's OK to root for your team, or give opposing team fans a hard time, but an entirely other thing to beat someone up for wearing another team's jersey.
But, back to the point, when someone calls themselves a fanboy, it means they really like the product. When someone calls someone else a fanboy, it means "so they're a fucking idiot, and I win any arguments on the topic at hand."
Fanboy basically means "no matter if they do good or bad I'll follow them", which is just another way of saying "I'm a fucking idiot". Seriously, being called fanboy is a bad thing.
Actually, it means, "by calling you a 'fanboy', I can pretend I've won an argument without needing to actually win it."
What will I be able to throw at the Mac/Linux users who show up?
I don't think you'll find many Mac/Linux users at a Windows 7 party. Unless there's promise of alcohol. Lots and lots of alcohol. Judgement impairing alcohol...
You'll want to prepare for your party by burning multiple copies of the Windows 7 DVD. You'll need extras because at first, the Linux and Mac users will damage them by playing Windows 7 Ultimate Frisbee, and popping them in the microwave, etc. Once the discs start remaining relatively unmolested, you'll know your trap is set.
Be prepared to receive the cold shoulder for a while, or perhaps even lose a few friends, for you see, what will transpire the next morning/afternoon is your former friends will awaken in a haze, feeling something is not quite right, but not sure what it is. They'll replay the previous evening's events in their minds to make sure they didn't do anything overly regretful, and then it will hit them.
In a panic, they'll rush to their computer, boot it up, knowing what they'll find while hoping and praying it didn't really happen, only to find themselves staring, in horror, at that damned Windows 7 fish.
Once they come out of their shock, the damage control begins. Mac users will have the advantage of being able to undo everything, as they've used protection (Boot Camp).
The Linux users will find no such comfort. Linux is the OS of an Open Source Master. It's not as clumsy or random as Windows, destroying all partitions in its path. It's an elegant system for a more civilized age. Because Windows is not, it will have written over their Linux partition, rendering the previous night's indiscretion much more serious and the data loss irreversible.
On the other hand, their wireless will start working...
I did read the novel, but there's a big difference. The citizens in 1984 were never allowed to view surveillance, so they were never on an equal scale as the government.
A difference that doesn't make a difference. It's almost as superfluous as saying, "unless your name is Winston, it's not exactly like 1984".
And fundamentally this is what frightens people, that someone with an upper hand controlls you.
Yes, some "party member" behind the screen. Only in this case, the "party member" is a volunteer citizen. This really isn't enough of a distinction to invalidate the entire comparison.
When that upper hand is given to everyone the concept isn't the same, and you taking things out of context doesn't make it so.
And finding differences here and there doesn't make the concept entirely different, either.
Otherwise, all those in power have to do is do things slightly different from 1984 to make it difficult to the citizenry to oppose. Like the story (which I think was debunked, but I didn't look into it very far) about the plan to put cameras into thousands of British households. If you could disable the cameras for a time for privacy, or they didn't have microphones, or they weren't embedded in the televisions, etc., one could make an argument similar to yours.
This is *very* much like 1984. Some of the details are different, but the overall tone of being watched ("fundamentally this is what frightens people", in your own words) is there.
I would disagree on "Spyware" part... On a Desktop, you wouldn't care too much about vendor having your mail for freeware but if vendor abuses some glitch and actually CALLS YOU, over your private phone line, that is some real big issue.
They pulled the app once that was reported.
I didn't say Apple perfectly stops all spyware, I said that they filter for it. Once it's discovered, it's either rejected or pulled.
The part I ellipsed out was the IP address/time stamp info. Any app that makes a network connection is going to do that. I'd actually prefer if the iPhone asked before making a network connection (like it presently does for location services), but time stamp and IP address are standard bits of info everyone knows. It's inherent in the way the Internet works.
Are you kidding? Apple doesn't filter on quality. There's tons and tons of crappy, useless, buggy apps in the app store.
And things would be worse without that filter. Apple doesn't say, "you have to meet some great and awesome standard", they say, "dude, this UI think here really sucks, fix it and we'll talk...".
Alternately, I can get a (PC) machine fit for the same purpose as a Mac mini for $200.
You can get a PC, as small as a Mac mini (+/- 1" each dimension, or roughly similar volume), with a Core2Duo, DVD burner, Nvidia 9400m (or better) graphics, 802.11n, bluetooth, for $200? Wow, I never knew. I guess PCs *are* cheaper.
Care to provide a link to such a machine? Or the parts?
Apples do well in areas that aren't being well served by the PC vendors. However, once the PC vendors pay attention to the niche in question, the Apple hardware tends to get blown out of the water.
Example?
Trying to argue that Macs aren't overpriced really is a losing proposition.
Only because people such as yourself who seem content to keep arguing a false premise.
So ultimately, the choice between the ION or the Mini comes down to the question of whether or not I want to run MacOS on the given box.
Are you talking about the Nvidia Ion platform? If so, you are being deliberately dishonest.
Sure, a completely different argument, but one that's more relevant.
More relevant? Only because it's actually true, unlike the claim that Macs are overpriced.
You might as well say "For the same hardware, Amigas aren't anymore expensive", because any 68040 machine would cost just as much today.
This is an absurd argument. Macs are made from standard PC components. We can compare directly, and they aren't more expensive.
The point is that, yes, I'm sure that a Mac Mini equivalent by another PC manufacturer would cost just as much, due to its use of more costly and lower performance laptop parts
And lower heat/power, smaller size, and quieter.
Which is yet *another* argument.
The funny thing is that you started off pointing out that the "choice" argument is more relevant, and then go on to deride Apple for providing people with a *choice* that the PC market doesn't even offer!
Slashdot Mirror
As you might guess, the article title and summary are incorrect. The scientists *didn't* write a memory into the fly's brain, they exposed it to something to memorize (the smell) and then artificially triggered the store-this-as-bad circuitry. Which is still cool and interesting and all that.
No, the article and summary are rather correct.
The fly's actual *experience* is of a smell that they didn't think was all that bad, but later, when they encountered the smell again, they remembered it as being something bad.
It's like if you ate some normal food, but a mad scientist tricked your brain into adding the "I didn't like this" flag to it while you were eating it. At the time, your emotion was a pleasantly eating some food, but later, when you encounter the food again, you feel repulsed by it, remembering it from before as being notably unpleasant.
They dig their heads on the sand and pretend that with a growing population we can just conserve our way out of this crisis
And to dig your head in the sand and pretend that with a growing population we can just consume our way out of this crisis is any better?
Then they try to impose draconian restrictions on the rest of us.
"Oh no! They're going to outlaw low efficiency TVs when higher efficiency TVs exist!"
The hyperbolic stance of you and your ilk is just as much a problem, perhaps even more so, as the people who oppose any sort of new energy plant. We will need to increase energy production, there's no doubt about that, but we also need to make better use of the energy we already have, there's no doubt about that, either.
So quit being part of the problem. Just because you call out the foolishness from the other side of the debate doesn't excuse *your* foolishness.
Only problem is you yanks keep coming down here and taking local public offices
Hey, we're just sending our rejects packing, it's *your* fault if you keep accepting them as one of your own, voting them into office, building them up then sending them back north stronger and just as dumb as ever.
*You've* got to stop voting for them, ok? You just never know where that might lead. I realize every now and then one of them will be a problem, but the way to save your baseball team *wasn't* to elect that guy as governor...
Not cool, The South. Not cool at all.
Anyhow, this is how most of the atmospheric layer and wind information is obtained --- not by satellite.
Seems like it would've been easier to put little propellers on the satellites to measure the wind than to have to fly a balloon every day.
And before anyone replies, yes, this is a joke. I know this wouldn't work, since the little propellers would fly the satellites off course...
Either way what Michael Dell says as the CEO of Dell doesn't reflect his personal opinion, just like any other CEO, or anybody working within management, your professional opinion can be in complete contrast to your personal opinion.
But when someone's "professional" opinion doesn't match their personal opinion, neither opinion is worth shit.
If he's trying to tell us how good Windows 7 is, when he won't even run it himself, that takes *all* of the legitimacy out of his statement.
Also something noteworthy is that the life situation of Michael Dell, as a multibillionare, is very different from the vast majority; thus whatever Michael Dell chooses will most likely not reflect what's best for you as an average income consumer.
There are "rich people" cars and "rich people" vacation packages and "rich people" clothes, etc., but there isn't a "rich people" OS.
There aren't even "rich people" computers. There are high end PCs and Mac Pros, but these are just expensive variants of their cheaper brethren, and run the same OS's. It's not like he's using some sort of exotic computer that can't run Windows.
Casting Wally for the role of Michael Dell actually explains a lot...
Except that noone seriously considers the iPhone a serious gaming device, especially not the gaming community.
Which is an exceptionally meaningless statement. All that matters is if it sates most people's need for games. And this is something it does *very* well.
Just because Apple wants it to be one doesn't make it one.
No, but the exceptional success of games on the App Store *does* make it one. You can go on all you want about lack of a control pad, but that comes across more as trying to justify a prejudiced conclusion than coming up with an argument that matches reality, *especially* when there is such a large number of people who are completely satisfied using an iPhone/iPod as their primary portable gaming device.
And to be honest, I think it's far more plausible that Nintendo would get Skype onto the DSi than the iPhone ever becoming a legitimate threat to Nintendo's portable marketshare.
Skype on the DSi will have *zero* effect on the iPhone. On the other hand, choosing to use the iPhone as one's portable gaming system *will* adversely affect Nintendo's market share.
Make no mistake, there are a *lot* of people who have an iPhone today who might otherwise have bought a DS, but now have absolutely no desire to buy one. There is pretty much no one with a DS that no longer want an iPhone. This will remain true even with Skype on a DS, or even a full-fledged DS Phone.
That's reality. That's how things actually are. Just because you don't think an iPhone is a gaming device, or you just don't like the iPhone, or whatever... None of that alters reality.
I agree. I think Apple has far more to fear from Nintendo than Nintendo does from Apple.
How so?
Apple has very little to fear from Nintendo. There's no way a DS Phone would take off, and even if it did, it's not going to decimate the iPhone market.
Conversely, Nintendo doesn't have anything to fear currently with regards to their Wii market, but their DS market is very much vulnerable to the iPhone/iPod touch. I'm not saying the DS is going away any time soon, but that it could very well dry up as people decide that with their iPhone/iPod they don't really need a dedicated gaming device.
Certainly, there would be people who would choose the opposite route were Nintento to release a phone, but I'm highly confident that significantly more people would choose the Apple option over the Nintendo option.
Let me ask you: what do you consider positive about a fanboy?
It just means the same thing as being a sports fan of a particular team. You could easily ask the same thing about that ("what's so good about it?"), and the answer, while different primarily because it's about a different topic, would be pretty much the same.
As for an actual answer, people don't become "fanboys" entirely without reason, as you're implying in your other posts. People become fans of Apple (quite often), Sony (not as much), MS (on the Xbox, a lot, on the desktop, not so much) for some reason. They like the aesthetics, overall quality, and ease of use (Apple), they like like the high-tech design and in-brand interoperability (Sony), they like the gamer-centric focus (MS Xbox) and they like the "woot, woot, we're number one, bitches!" (MS, desktop).
Some people are VW fanboys, or pokemon fanboys, or science fanboys, or whatever. It takes a real douche, however, to give people shit for liking something a lot. The only time fanboys really become a problem is when they start putting other people down excessively. It's one thing to say "Macs are better" or "I wouldn't buy a PC", but it's an entirely other thing to start calling all Windows users idiots or something, just like it's OK to root for your team, or give opposing team fans a hard time, but an entirely other thing to beat someone up for wearing another team's jersey.
But, back to the point, when someone calls themselves a fanboy, it means they really like the product. When someone calls someone else a fanboy, it means "so they're a fucking idiot, and I win any arguments on the topic at hand."
As an Apple fanboy
Fanboy basically means "no matter if they do good or bad I'll follow them", which is just another way of saying "I'm a fucking idiot". Seriously, being called fanboy is a bad thing.
Actually, it means, "by calling you a 'fanboy', I can pretend I've won an argument without needing to actually win it."
It's similar to "freetard" or "Windows user".
Who?
A man with a life, apparently.
Also:
Who cares?
Oh crap, the nerds are reaching for the torches and pitchforks...
(Before you mod me down, ask yourself if any of what I wrote is not true. Read some of the posts below mine if you're not sure.)
More than a moment, I'll wager.
Or much less, rather.
And you're just wonderfully adept at doublethink.
Simple minded is saying, "there's a difference, therefore an analogy is completely wrong."
I weep when the citizens of two of the freest nations ever to exist defend a surveillance scheme as offensive as this
In the future, try to avoid talking about physics without having actually studied it.
*That'll* teach him to ask a physics question! The nerve of some people...
And there are more people driving beetles, than beetles driving people...
"I still fail to understand how any sane human being could actually LIKE Windows."
Apparently, you have not been exposed to SCO or SYS V.
Or AIX.
Or DeskMate.
Or DOS.
There have been worse things, just not many, nor so recently. Except maybe Gentoo, but I'm biased and beyond redemption in this area.
Wow, you sure like to set the bar low...
What will I be able to throw at the Mac/Linux users who show up?
I don't think you'll find many Mac/Linux users at a Windows 7 party. Unless there's promise of alcohol. Lots and lots of alcohol. Judgement impairing alcohol...
You'll want to prepare for your party by burning multiple copies of the Windows 7 DVD. You'll need extras because at first, the Linux and Mac users will damage them by playing Windows 7 Ultimate Frisbee, and popping them in the microwave, etc. Once the discs start remaining relatively unmolested, you'll know your trap is set.
Be prepared to receive the cold shoulder for a while, or perhaps even lose a few friends, for you see, what will transpire the next morning/afternoon is your former friends will awaken in a haze, feeling something is not quite right, but not sure what it is. They'll replay the previous evening's events in their minds to make sure they didn't do anything overly regretful, and then it will hit them.
In a panic, they'll rush to their computer, boot it up, knowing what they'll find while hoping and praying it didn't really happen, only to find themselves staring, in horror, at that damned Windows 7 fish.
Once they come out of their shock, the damage control begins. Mac users will have the advantage of being able to undo everything, as they've used protection (Boot Camp).
The Linux users will find no such comfort. Linux is the OS of an Open Source Master. It's not as clumsy or random as Windows, destroying all partitions in its path. It's an elegant system for a more civilized age. Because Windows is not, it will have written over their Linux partition, rendering the previous night's indiscretion much more serious and the data loss irreversible.
On the other hand, their wireless will start working...
It could have been worse. They could have included copies of Windows for the guests, too.
Neither is a revolutionary piece of software that re-sets the benchmark for everything to come and blasts all competition into dust.
I noticed you were careful not to include two of the words the person you were replying to used: From MS.
I think your decision was very well made.
Ok, you've convinced me. George Orwell was a bad man. Therefore I will take his warnings as a thing to instead be sought.
Big Brother is Good.
Being constantly monitored is freedom.
I was really confused there for a moment, but your ad hominem really did the trick. Thanks!
I did read the novel, but there's a big difference. The citizens in 1984 were never allowed to view surveillance, so they were never on an equal scale as the government.
A difference that doesn't make a difference. It's almost as superfluous as saying, "unless your name is Winston, it's not exactly like 1984".
And fundamentally this is what frightens people, that someone with an upper hand controlls you.
Yes, some "party member" behind the screen. Only in this case, the "party member" is a volunteer citizen. This really isn't enough of a distinction to invalidate the entire comparison.
When that upper hand is given to everyone the concept isn't the same, and you taking things out of context doesn't make it so.
And finding differences here and there doesn't make the concept entirely different, either.
Otherwise, all those in power have to do is do things slightly different from 1984 to make it difficult to the citizenry to oppose. Like the story (which I think was debunked, but I didn't look into it very far) about the plan to put cameras into thousands of British households. If you could disable the cameras for a time for privacy, or they didn't have microphones, or they weren't embedded in the televisions, etc., one could make an argument similar to yours.
This is *very* much like 1984. Some of the details are different, but the overall tone of being watched ("fundamentally this is what frightens people", in your own words) is there.
I would disagree on "Spyware" part ... On a Desktop, you wouldn't care too much about vendor having your mail for freeware but if vendor abuses some glitch and actually CALLS YOU, over your private phone line, that is some real big issue.
They pulled the app once that was reported.
I didn't say Apple perfectly stops all spyware, I said that they filter for it. Once it's discovered, it's either rejected or pulled.
The part I ellipsed out was the IP address/time stamp info. Any app that makes a network connection is going to do that. I'd actually prefer if the iPhone asked before making a network connection (like it presently does for location services), but time stamp and IP address are standard bits of info everyone knows. It's inherent in the way the Internet works.
Are you kidding? Apple doesn't filter on quality. There's tons and tons of crappy, useless, buggy apps in the app store.
And things would be worse without that filter. Apple doesn't say, "you have to meet some great and awesome standard", they say, "dude, this UI think here really sucks, fix it and we'll talk...".
Alternately, I can get a (PC) machine fit for the same purpose as a Mac mini for $200.
You can get a PC, as small as a Mac mini (+/- 1" each dimension, or roughly similar volume), with a Core2Duo, DVD burner, Nvidia 9400m (or better) graphics, 802.11n, bluetooth, for $200? Wow, I never knew. I guess PCs *are* cheaper.
Care to provide a link to such a machine? Or the parts?
Apples do well in areas that aren't being well served by the PC vendors.
However, once the PC vendors pay attention to the niche in question, the
Apple hardware tends to get blown out of the water.
Example?
Trying to argue that Macs aren't overpriced really is a losing proposition.
Only because people such as yourself who seem content to keep arguing a false premise.
So ultimately, the choice between the ION or the Mini comes down to the question
of whether or not I want to run MacOS on the given box.
Are you talking about the Nvidia Ion platform? If so, you are being deliberately dishonest.
Sure, a completely different argument, but one that's more relevant.
More relevant? Only because it's actually true, unlike the claim that Macs are overpriced.
You might as well say "For the same hardware, Amigas aren't anymore expensive", because any 68040 machine would cost just as much today.
This is an absurd argument. Macs are made from standard PC components. We can compare directly, and they aren't more expensive.
The point is that, yes, I'm sure that a Mac Mini equivalent by another PC manufacturer would cost just as much, due to its use of more costly and lower performance laptop parts
And lower heat/power, smaller size, and quieter.
Which is yet *another* argument.
The funny thing is that you started off pointing out that the "choice" argument is more relevant, and then go on to deride Apple for providing people with a *choice* that the PC market doesn't even offer!