Only on Slashdot does some dickweed nitpick every aspect of another gent's webpage... The Slashdot Pasttime! What is weird about the guy having a lot of personal files? Are you saying he's a pompous ass because he's got a lot of photos and other personal files? FOR SHAME!
These are my two favorite computing memories, at least the two that first came to mind:
* Tandy PC-3: This was my first computer. I got it when I was 10. I credit it with my long standing infatuation with pocketable and portable computers, programming, and the idea of user-programmable operating environments and applications. It has a whopping 4 KB of memory. And not just RAM, in the sense of working memory- but it was 4KB in which your program and any data would have to fit. It was tiny- smaller than most PDAs are today... very thing. It docks with a sweet Printer/Tape Drive interface, that provides a little 2-3" wide thermal tape printer and the jacks to interface to a little casette drive. I got it free from my uncle. Apparently they were tossing it out. He worked at BASF, and they used it for calculating how much ink/water to put in for making ink mixtures just right. I had been a computer nerd my whole life before it, but unfortunately, a computer nerd without a computer. But it was something I always thought about, making fake computers out of cardboard, reading books about computers, etc. And now I had my own! Not only a computer, but something really, really cool! I took it to school and printed off friends biorhythms, which was one of the BASIC programs I keyed in, one of the examples in the extensive user manuals. I still have her, though she languishes in a drawer at my parents house. Everything works, but the LCD (one line,baby!) is cracked, and only the first half of the characters are readable. Sometimes, I think about trying to figure out what screen I could replace it with and resurecting it... There are too many memories about this beaut to describe just one.
* Tandy TRS-80 4P: Ahh... another computer surrounded with many great memories. A couple friends and I came upon a TRS-80 4P for free at some point. This was in 1995 or so and I was 15. For those who don't know, the P denotes "portable." It was a luggable to be sure, though from what I've read, more luggable than some others that carry the descriptor. When we got it, the monitor was out of sync. But V- and H-Sync dials weren't on the outside. Thinking it was just a broken old computer, and having little respect for the mechanical god it was, one of us had smacked the thing. I have no idea who or why it was smacked in the first place- but after it was, we noticed the sync was a little better! Another smack... and better yet! We ended up taking turns whacking the thing, beating it- until the sync was fixed! We were amazed and, at the time, we thought it was pretty damn hillarious, proud that we could tell people that sometimes, to fix a computer you just have to beat it senselessly. A few months later, we took it apart for fun and found those V- and H-Sync nobs, hidden somewhere deep in the case. Now that's what I call good industrial design!
Another fond nerd-memory about the 4P... After a couple weeks of no manuals, no help, no prior experience with any TRS model (we were in Apple country, see) but a lot of random hacking, we were able to write a very very simple editor in BASIC that would write to 5.25" floppies. Nothing fancy like ed, but it worked. With this editor, one of my friends Lucas and I started to take it to school with us for takling out notes. "Annoyingly nerdy" comes to mind as a descriptor. We had a lot of classes together, and would take turns. Some teachers made us put it away- after all, the thing beeped every key you pressed, and the keyboard's clacking and the computer itself was pretty loud. But others seemed to think it was a great idea, introducing technology into the classroom, with the initiative being in the hands of the students. That amused us by itself, since we didn't think they knew the kind of useless dinosaur we had on our hands- though with better software, it would've been far more useful. Anyway, lugging around a 40 lb
Well, not the INTJ I know.:) Most of my friends seem to be INFPs or INTPs, but this one new guy, an INTJ, gets the weirdest ideas- and then sticks to them, in the face of data that shows otherwise. Thanks for the link!
Glad somebody said it! And brownie points for the MBTA reference.
Thanks! The MBTA type reference was a bit of a risk... As with every generalization, the stereotype doesn't neccesarily hold for every case. But it seemed a good fit; the N denotes iNtuition, in this case meaning that they get a gut feeling that Apple is going to institute some draconian "Trusted Computing" platform where only their signed code runs. Rather than an S, who bases that decision not on intution but her senses. That by itself isn't too bad, since a lot of people may get that gut feeling... The N plus a J is the real curse... The J means that as new data arises, she'll be reluctant or unwilling to revise and adapt that judgement. To the point that she'll switch from Macs, even if Apple comes out with a TC and DRM-free Intel Mac. She may consciously continue to be conviced that Apple will be adding that capability in the next revision of the mobo, or maybe subconsciously she'll just get a feeling that something isn't right with Apple, something that you just can't trust...
This is total generalization, and could be interpreted as complete BS. The comment was mostly made off the cuff and I didn't mean too much by it. But the chance to overanalyze sounded like too much fun.:)
In my college classes, I've used a PDA for taking notes. I've also used it in various classes as a calculator, even during tests. In some of the classes, I gave the prof my memory card, which contain my notes, for the test. But then again, I could just as easily copied those notes to local memory... The only time a prof outright said no was in the AI class I had, where we had to write Scheme code. He said no because a) I had a Scheme interpreter (PocketScheme) on my PDA, and b) I usually used that Scheme interpreter as my calculator. Maybe it's an unfair advantage to have a real programming language around for your math; you have no idea how handy map can be on a genetics test.:)
But like the other guy said, what's it about? Cheating or learning? I've had ample opportunity to cheat, and I've not yet, at least not since keeping the quadratic formula as a note in a program on my TI calc in HS.
So what was the question? Whether or not I'm gonna ditch the Mac because of a processor change?
No, the question was: "Are you going to jump to some paranoid conclusion that Apple is going the way of locked-down, 'Trusted Computing,' the the most evil thing on earth, and stop using Apple computers- even without having any data whatsoever on whether or not Apple will be going that direction?"
And to that I answer: hell no. I mean, what kind of tool makes that decision now? Some sort of freaky INTJ? If Apple announces that in their new Intel Macs that you will have to have a fancy, expensive certificate to write and run new code on their OS and CPUs, to be signed- ala trusted computing style- then maybe I'll dump Apple. But I really doubt that sort of shit is going to happen, at least not now. But people love to jump to weirdo conclusions here.:)
The 'empty calories' cause psychological hunger to kick in somehow (that they do not know) and you try to replace the calories with real food.
Then you can just as easily argue that drinking weight causes people to gain weight. Same effect. I don't doubt that when you try to substitute something non-caloric for real food when you are hungry gets you to eat more than you would have originally, but that argument could be used for a ton of foods any drinks.
Diet pop doesn't contain "empty calories." Or rather, it doesn't contain empty calories like you seem to mean. Diet soda tends not to contain calories in general, or rather, there are only a few in the whole can/bottle. As the dictionary says:
Food that has little or no nutritional value. For example, Snacking on beer and potato chips makes for a lot of empty calories.
That is, food/drink that contains calories- be it from sugars/carbs or fats that don't contain any "redeeming" nutritional value- protein, vitamans, etc. A lot of candy and regular, sugar'd soda can be categorized as "empty calories." One could argue that the 1 calorie in a can of Diet Coke counts as an "empty calorie," but that would be pendantic beyond reason. Diet sodas are non-caloric, which is why they are "diet."
I should mention that it really pisses me off to see the "Original Formula" label on cans of Coke Classic. It sure doesn't taste like the original to me.
Man, tell me about it. It's just not the same without the taste of sugar or the buzz of the cocaine. "Original formula" my arse.
I should mention that it really pisses me off to see the "Original Formula" label on cans of Coke Classic. It sure doesn't taste like the original to me.
No joke. That always bugged me too. Between the buzz of the cocaine and the taste of the sugar... It's an utter lie.
Correlation is not causation. This study doesn't conclude that "Diet soda causes people to gain weight," like you say, rather that people who drink diet soda gain weight. Big surprise! Who drinks diet pop? Fatties! If you're already overweight, the chances that you're in the middle of gaining more weight is higher than someone who is fit and not gaining weight. Saying that diet soda causes people to gain weight is like saying that going to enrolling in Weight Watchers causes you to gain weight, because there is a correlation between people who enroll in WW and at some point gain some more weight.
People who want to cut the 150-200 calories for a can of pop out of their diets. Because of all the whacky psychological stuff going on too, a lot of overweight folks tend to think they since they drank a diet soda (instead of a regular) that they can make up for it in some other area- have an extra scoop of ice cream, or something along those lines. You see a lot of that with diet food- they think they're eating "healthy" buy buying the "diet" or "lo-carb" cookies, but then eat 8 cookies instead of 3 regular ones, netting a total of more calories.
Darn tootin'. Coke everwhere else in the world is a ton better. I don't buy it too often (since it requires going to a bigger supermarket, and I usually shop at the small organic co-op much closer my house) but the Mexican Coke is easy to find where I am. I remember the first time I tasted non-US coke- on a plane to Iceland when I was 16, en route to Germany for an exchange program- and damn, it was like the wool being lifted from mine eyes.
I have to second the Real Dr Pepper recomendation. I've never bought it from that website, but a friend in Texas has shipped some up to me, real sugar and glass bottles. Also, the real-sugar glass-bottle'd Orange Crush is even better. I think they might've just discontinued crush, a damn shame, it being my favorite orange pop. In stores around here (Duluth, MN, USA) it's been replaced by some Tropicana orange pop.:(
The problem with a Christian video game is that all the parts of the Bible that would make a good video game are the parts that Christians like to ignore.
No joke! I remember when I read the Book of Revelations- I was like 10 years old. That would make a badass game. Maybe you can play good or bad, but unlike in all the christian games I've seen that allow you to do that, evil needs to be able to win. But have some consequence.
You should talk to someone, get that cutscene put in some game. It'd be pretty badass.
Yeah, there have been religious video games since the 8 bit days. And they pretty much all suck. Oftentimes technically, but they're usually just really, really, really lame.
Imagine my shock as a bright eyed and bushy tailed 8 year old: friend: "Hey Aaron! You coming over and play Nintendo after school?" me: "Yup, my mom said I could. Let's play!"... friend: "Check out this game! It's called Moses and the Trees of God and it's just like Super Mario Brothers, but it's not evil!" me: "Mario Brothers is... evil?" friend: "Yeah! Nintendo is a tool of Satan, you know, there are angels of God and demons constantly fighting over your soul... AS WE SPEAK! So, every time we choose something godly, we are fighting Satan! Cool, huh?" ** 4 minutes into playing, the game freezes ** me: "hmm... that's no fun!" friend: "Yeah, but it's christian! SO it's better than Mario!"
I knew that crazy mofo for a longtime after that, and had the same discussion for so many things- "Hey! This sounds just like Green Day... but it's CHRISTIAN!"... "but Todd, Green Day blows, why would I want to listen to a bad Green Day clone with lame, non-subtle jesus-is-lord lyrics?"
No answer for that.
Man, that kind of childhood whacks a person out. I'll never forget the look on his face as the automatic garage door closed, his 12 year old face staring out as he started taking his clothes off. Standing on the concrete floor at the inside door to the house, his parents surrounding him, looking stern. They caught us listening to another friends copy of some Adam Sandler CD. "Todd! You will strip down into your underwear, and you are going to get a spanking for your sin." I found out at school the next day that the parents made him burn the CD, wanting to rid the world of such vile and evil filth, with no regard to the fact that the CD was owned by some other kid...
OK, sorry about the flashback! The moral? Just say no to poorly done, lame christian video games. Which is to say, there exists some decent so-called christian music, but mostly because it's music made with "christian values" in mind, rather than singing about naught but jesus and god, in the most annoying fashion possible.
His post *does* add something. It points out the fact salient that CentOS doesn't have some company behind it suporting it. If this fellow is torn between NLD9 and RHWS, it is a safe guess that the IT department where he works is looking for somewhere to get buy support. So, when there's a vunerability, it gets patched ASAP, and they're provided with easy-to-install packaeges, rather than a kernel tarball and a HOWTO. You can argue until the robotic cow overlords come home about whether or not that's something hardcore folks care about, but some people want it, and it doesn't matter why all that much to the rest of us...
I imagine there are lots of business out there who use Linux without a support contract. And maybe this guy's IT dept isn't interested in one- but the facts point to a different conclusion. Maybe he could comment?
Speaking of which, it's kind of funny- on the vast majority of Ask/.s I've read/participated in, there's usually a lot of bickering/debate like this... And usually, the original asker isn't around to clear these things up. Which leaves us with an superthread with lots of useless, argumentative sentences... *shrug*
Well, saying that this particular man-made body was "orbiting" the sun does make some sense. That is, it also makes sense if you've walked half of the circuit around your block to say you're "walking around the block." No one said that this body completed N orbits, etc etc.
Orbiting means to be in the process of an orbit. There's nothing in the definition about having to make so many orbits before you "graduate" to being a real orbiting body.
Think of it this way- what would've happened to the Deep Impact if that comet wasn't in the way? Would it have continued its orbit of the sun, or just shot out, leaving the solar system?
[My mom used to buy "soy extended" hamburger meat when I was a kid, for budgetary reasons, but I absolutely loved that stuff... it's crunchy and is generally just sort of interesting in way that pure beef is not.]
Yeah, I usually call that "school lunch hamburger." Used for the same reasons, I imagine. I used to prefer that low-quality beef cut with soy protein to just plain regular ground beef, at least when it came to hamburgers. Largely because I grew up eating that kind of beef at school. Now a days I'm not quite as keen on it, but it does have an interesting, and not bad at all, slightly different taste.
And then there's me. Some people get downright confused when I make a veggie burger- and then top it with a tasty slice of either turkey or regular pork bacon. Mmm, totally good.:)
Also, the reason morse is as fast as it is is because you hardly have to move your finger at all. ...
You make it sound like it's a bad thing that in Morse code you don't have to move your finger much. That is, you imply that it's cheating. "Keyboards suck! The only reason you type so fast is that there are so many keys, one for each letter! How cheap can you get?!"
That said, I can get 40-45 WPM on my Pocket PC and on my Newton MP 2100 with handwriting recognition. *not* character recognition, but real HWR- CalliGrapher or Newton HWR.
Indeed, it has been done: I've seen such input methods for the Pocket PC and Zaurus PDAs. My dad, an old ham, can get aroudn 50 WPM no problem. Something to think about...
Speaking of cows- if people were so darned concerned about how much energy is spent producing another form of stored energy, then they wouldn't each so much damn beef and other meat. From this site:
Conservation of Fossil fuel. It takes 78 calories of fossil fuel to produce 1 calorie of beef protein; 35 calories for 1 calorie of pork; 22 calories for 1 of poultry; but just 1 calorie of fossil fuel for 1 calorie of soybeans. By eating plant foods instead of animal foods, I help conserve our non-renewable sources of energy.
If there was ever an argument to get me to go veg*an, that'd probably be it.
*so i say, as i munch on a really tasty marinated beef tenderloin kabob*
And, evidentally, your grasp of english leaves some to be desired as well. I wasn't talking about getting a 30% return on the software- but in using the software to get the same 30% profit margin as they do out of their own hardware. Two different things.
When something like this comes up, what anyone with half a brain says is that "Apple makes their money on hardware, *not* software." Which is true. However, what kind of profit margin is their on your average Mac? From what info I can find, it'd around 30%. So, for Apple to make the same kind of money that they make selling hardware, they'd have to charge Dell 30% for an OS X license on each machine- bumping that $1200 PC running Windows up to $1560, out of which Apple would get $360.
Is it just me or is that exorborant? Maybe it could go down a bit, if we're thinking about a big increase in the number of OS X boxes sold... But still, I can't imagine Apple wanting to risk going toward being a software company again or consumers willing to pay a $300-600 Apple tax on their machines...
Slashdot Mirror
Only on Slashdot does some dickweed nitpick every aspect of another gent's webpage... The Slashdot Pasttime! What is weird about the guy having a lot of personal files? Are you saying he's a pompous ass because he's got a lot of photos and other personal files? FOR SHAME!
What about DOS + Arachne?
These are my two favorite computing memories, at least the two that first came to mind:
* Tandy PC-3 : This was my first computer. I got it when I was 10. I credit it with my long standing infatuation with pocketable and portable computers, programming, and the idea of user-programmable operating environments and applications. It has a whopping 4 KB of memory. And not just RAM, in the sense of working memory- but it was 4KB in which your program and any data would have to fit. It was tiny- smaller than most PDAs are today... very thing. It docks with a sweet Printer/Tape Drive interface, that provides a little 2-3" wide thermal tape printer and the jacks to interface to a little casette drive. I got it free from my uncle. Apparently they were tossing it out. He worked at BASF, and they used it for calculating how much ink/water to put in for making ink mixtures just right. I had been a computer nerd my whole life before it, but unfortunately, a computer nerd without a computer. But it was something I always thought about, making fake computers out of cardboard, reading books about computers, etc. And now I had my own! Not only a computer, but something really, really cool! I took it to school and printed off friends biorhythms, which was one of the BASIC programs I keyed in, one of the examples in the extensive user manuals. I still have her, though she languishes in a drawer at my parents house. Everything works, but the LCD (one line,baby!) is cracked, and only the first half of the characters are readable. Sometimes, I think about trying to figure out what screen I could replace it with and resurecting it... There are too many memories about this beaut to describe just one.
* Tandy TRS-80 4P : Ahh... another computer surrounded with many great memories. A couple friends and I came upon a TRS-80 4P for free at some point. This was in 1995 or so and I was 15. For those who don't know, the P denotes "portable." It was a luggable to be sure, though from what I've read, more luggable than some others that carry the descriptor. When we got it, the monitor was out of sync. But V- and H-Sync dials weren't on the outside. Thinking it was just a broken old computer, and having little respect for the mechanical god it was, one of us had smacked the thing. I have no idea who or why it was smacked in the first place- but after it was, we noticed the sync was a little better! Another smack... and better yet! We ended up taking turns whacking the thing, beating it- until the sync was fixed! We were amazed and, at the time, we thought it was pretty damn hillarious, proud that we could tell people that sometimes, to fix a computer you just have to beat it senselessly. A few months later, we took it apart for fun and found those V- and H-Sync nobs, hidden somewhere deep in the case. Now that's what I call good industrial design!
Another fond nerd-memory about the 4P... After a couple weeks of no manuals, no help, no prior experience with any TRS model (we were in Apple country, see) but a lot of random hacking, we were able to write a very very simple editor in BASIC that would write to 5.25" floppies. Nothing fancy like ed, but it worked. With this editor, one of my friends Lucas and I started to take it to school with us for takling out notes. "Annoyingly nerdy" comes to mind as a descriptor. We had a lot of classes together, and would take turns. Some teachers made us put it away- after all, the thing beeped every key you pressed, and the keyboard's clacking and the computer itself was pretty loud. But others seemed to think it was a great idea, introducing technology into the classroom, with the initiative being in the hands of the students. That amused us by itself, since we didn't think they knew the kind of useless dinosaur we had on our hands- though with better software, it would've been far more useful. Anyway, lugging around a 40 lb
Well, not the INTJ I know. :) Most of my friends seem to be INFPs or INTPs, but this one new guy, an INTJ, gets the weirdest ideas- and then sticks to them, in the face of data that shows otherwise. Thanks for the link!
Nice try to troll. Write again when you get back to highschool and can check your 'scientific journals'...
Ha! You certainly did "get stirred up." I don't think an un-stirred-up scientist would have this kind of freak out...
Glad somebody said it! And brownie points for the MBTA reference.
:)
Thanks! The MBTA type reference was a bit of a risk... As with every generalization, the stereotype doesn't neccesarily hold for every case. But it seemed a good fit; the N denotes iNtuition, in this case meaning that they get a gut feeling that Apple is going to institute some draconian "Trusted Computing" platform where only their signed code runs. Rather than an S, who bases that decision not on intution but her senses. That by itself isn't too bad, since a lot of people may get that gut feeling... The N plus a J is the real curse... The J means that as new data arises, she'll be reluctant or unwilling to revise and adapt that judgement. To the point that she'll switch from Macs, even if Apple comes out with a TC and DRM-free Intel Mac. She may consciously continue to be conviced that Apple will be adding that capability in the next revision of the mobo, or maybe subconsciously she'll just get a feeling that something isn't right with Apple, something that you just can't trust...
This is total generalization, and could be interpreted as complete BS. The comment was mostly made off the cuff and I didn't mean too much by it. But the chance to overanalyze sounded like too much fun.
In my college classes, I've used a PDA for taking notes. I've also used it in various classes as a calculator, even during tests. In some of the classes, I gave the prof my memory card, which contain my notes, for the test. But then again, I could just as easily copied those notes to local memory... The only time a prof outright said no was in the AI class I had, where we had to write Scheme code. He said no because a) I had a Scheme interpreter (PocketScheme) on my PDA, and b) I usually used that Scheme interpreter as my calculator. Maybe it's an unfair advantage to have a real programming language around for your math; you have no idea how handy map can be on a genetics test. :)
But like the other guy said, what's it about? Cheating or learning? I've had ample opportunity to cheat, and I've not yet, at least not since keeping the quadratic formula as a note in a program on my TI calc in HS.
So what was the question? Whether or not I'm gonna ditch the Mac because of a processor change?
:)
No, the question was: "Are you going to jump to some paranoid conclusion that Apple is going the way of locked-down, 'Trusted Computing,' the the most evil thing on earth, and stop using Apple computers- even without having any data whatsoever on whether or not Apple will be going that direction?"
And to that I answer: hell no. I mean, what kind of tool makes that decision now? Some sort of freaky INTJ? If Apple announces that in their new Intel Macs that you will have to have a fancy, expensive certificate to write and run new code on their OS and CPUs, to be signed- ala trusted computing style- then maybe I'll dump Apple. But I really doubt that sort of shit is going to happen, at least not now. But people love to jump to weirdo conclusions here.
Then you can just as easily argue that drinking weight causes people to gain weight. Same effect. I don't doubt that when you try to substitute something non-caloric for real food when you are hungry gets you to eat more than you would have originally, but that argument could be used for a ton of foods any drinks.
Diet pop doesn't contain "empty calories." Or rather, it doesn't contain empty calories like you seem to mean. Diet soda tends not to contain calories in general, or rather, there are only a few in the whole can/bottle. As the dictionary says:
That is, food/drink that contains calories- be it from sugars/carbs or fats that don't contain any "redeeming" nutritional value- protein, vitamans, etc. A lot of candy and regular, sugar'd soda can be categorized as "empty calories." One could argue that the 1 calorie in a can of Diet Coke counts as an "empty calorie," but that would be pendantic beyond reason. Diet sodas are non-caloric, which is why they are "diet."
I should mention that it really pisses me off to see the "Original Formula" label on cans of Coke Classic. It sure doesn't taste like the original to me.
Man, tell me about it. It's just not the same without the taste of sugar or the buzz of the cocaine. "Original formula" my arse.
I should mention that it really pisses me off to see the "Original Formula" label on cans of Coke Classic. It sure doesn't taste like the original to me.
No joke. That always bugged me too. Between the buzz of the cocaine and the taste of the sugar... It's an utter lie.
Correlation is not causation. This study doesn't conclude that "Diet soda causes people to gain weight," like you say, rather that people who drink diet soda gain weight. Big surprise! Who drinks diet pop? Fatties! If you're already overweight, the chances that you're in the middle of gaining more weight is higher than someone who is fit and not gaining weight. Saying that diet soda causes people to gain weight is like saying that going to enrolling in Weight Watchers causes you to gain weight, because there is a correlation between people who enroll in WW and at some point gain some more weight.
People who want to cut the 150-200 calories for a can of pop out of their diets. Because of all the whacky psychological stuff going on too, a lot of overweight folks tend to think they since they drank a diet soda (instead of a regular) that they can make up for it in some other area- have an extra scoop of ice cream, or something along those lines. You see a lot of that with diet food- they think they're eating "healthy" buy buying the "diet" or "lo-carb" cookies, but then eat 8 cookies instead of 3 regular ones, netting a total of more calories.
Darn tootin'. Coke everwhere else in the world is a ton better. I don't buy it too often (since it requires going to a bigger supermarket, and I usually shop at the small organic co-op much closer my house) but the Mexican Coke is easy to find where I am. I remember the first time I tasted non-US coke- on a plane to Iceland when I was 16, en route to Germany for an exchange program- and damn, it was like the wool being lifted from mine eyes.
:(
I have to second the Real Dr Pepper recomendation. I've never bought it from that website, but a friend in Texas has shipped some up to me, real sugar and glass bottles. Also, the real-sugar glass-bottle'd Orange Crush is even better. I think they might've just discontinued crush, a damn shame, it being my favorite orange pop. In stores around here (Duluth, MN, USA) it's been replaced by some Tropicana orange pop.
Apple also denied working on an OS X for x86 all these years too. HMMM!
The problem with a Christian video game is that all the parts of the Bible that would make a good video game are the parts that Christians like to ignore.
No joke! I remember when I read the Book of Revelations- I was like 10 years old. That would make a badass game. Maybe you can play good or bad, but unlike in all the christian games I've seen that allow you to do that, evil needs to be able to win. But have some consequence.
You should talk to someone, get that cutscene put in some game. It'd be pretty badass.
Yeah, there have been religious video games since the 8 bit days. And they pretty much all suck. Oftentimes technically, but they're usually just really, really, really lame.
... ... evil?"
... "but Todd, Green Day blows, why would I want to listen to a bad Green Day clone with lame, non-subtle jesus-is-lord lyrics?"
Imagine my shock as a bright eyed and bushy tailed 8 year old:
friend: "Hey Aaron! You coming over and play Nintendo after school?"
me: "Yup, my mom said I could. Let's play!"
friend: "Check out this game! It's called Moses and the Trees of God and it's just like Super Mario Brothers, but it's not evil!"
me: "Mario Brothers is
friend: "Yeah! Nintendo is a tool of Satan, you know, there are angels of God and demons constantly fighting over your soul... AS WE SPEAK! So, every time we choose something godly, we are fighting Satan! Cool, huh?"
** 4 minutes into playing, the game freezes **
me: "hmm... that's no fun!"
friend: "Yeah, but it's christian! SO it's better than Mario!"
I knew that crazy mofo for a longtime after that, and had the same discussion for so many things- "Hey! This sounds just like Green Day... but it's CHRISTIAN!"
No answer for that.
Man, that kind of childhood whacks a person out. I'll never forget the look on his face as the automatic garage door closed, his 12 year old face staring out as he started taking his clothes off. Standing on the concrete floor at the inside door to the house, his parents surrounding him, looking stern. They caught us listening to another friends copy of some Adam Sandler CD. "Todd! You will strip down into your underwear, and you are going to get a spanking for your sin." I found out at school the next day that the parents made him burn the CD, wanting to rid the world of such vile and evil filth, with no regard to the fact that the CD was owned by some other kid...
OK, sorry about the flashback! The moral? Just say no to poorly done, lame christian video games. Which is to say, there exists some decent so-called christian music, but mostly because it's music made with "christian values" in mind, rather than singing about naught but jesus and god, in the most annoying fashion possible.
His post *does* add something. It points out the fact salient that CentOS doesn't have some company behind it suporting it. If this fellow is torn between NLD9 and RHWS, it is a safe guess that the IT department where he works is looking for somewhere to get buy support. So, when there's a vunerability, it gets patched ASAP, and they're provided with easy-to-install packaeges, rather than a kernel tarball and a HOWTO. You can argue until the robotic cow overlords come home about whether or not that's something hardcore folks care about, but some people want it, and it doesn't matter why all that much to the rest of us...
/.s I've read/participated in, there's usually a lot of bickering/debate like this... And usually, the original asker isn't around to clear these things up. Which leaves us with an superthread with lots of useless, argumentative sentences... *shrug*
I imagine there are lots of business out there who use Linux without a support contract. And maybe this guy's IT dept isn't interested in one- but the facts point to a different conclusion. Maybe he could comment?
Speaking of which, it's kind of funny- on the vast majority of Ask
Well, saying that this particular man-made body was "orbiting" the sun does make some sense. That is, it also makes sense if you've walked half of the circuit around your block to say you're "walking around the block." No one said that this body completed N orbits, etc etc.
Orbiting means to be in the process of an orbit. There's nothing in the definition about having to make so many orbits before you "graduate" to being a real orbiting body.
Think of it this way- what would've happened to the Deep Impact if that comet wasn't in the way? Would it have continued its orbit of the sun, or just shot out, leaving the solar system?
[My mom used to buy "soy extended" hamburger meat when I was a kid, for budgetary reasons, but I absolutely loved that stuff ... it's crunchy and is generally just sort of interesting in way that pure beef is not.]
:)
Yeah, I usually call that "school lunch hamburger." Used for the same reasons, I imagine. I used to prefer that low-quality beef cut with soy protein to just plain regular ground beef, at least when it came to hamburgers. Largely because I grew up eating that kind of beef at school. Now a days I'm not quite as keen on it, but it does have an interesting, and not bad at all, slightly different taste.
And then there's me. Some people get downright confused when I make a veggie burger- and then top it with a tasty slice of either turkey or regular pork bacon. Mmm, totally good.
Also, the reason morse is as fast as it is is because you hardly have to move your finger at all. ...
You make it sound like it's a bad thing that in Morse code you don't have to move your finger much. That is, you imply that it's cheating. "Keyboards suck! The only reason you type so fast is that there are so many keys, one for each letter! How cheap can you get?!"
Oops, forgot to finish:
That said, I can get 40-45 WPM on my Pocket PC and on my Newton MP 2100 with handwriting recognition. *not* character recognition, but real HWR- CalliGrapher or Newton HWR.
Indeed, it has been done: I've seen such input methods for the Pocket PC and Zaurus PDAs. My dad, an old ham, can get aroudn 50 WPM no problem. Something to think about...
If there was ever an argument to get me to go veg*an, that'd probably be it.
*so i say, as i munch on a really tasty marinated beef tenderloin kabob*
And, evidentally, your grasp of english leaves some to be desired as well. I wasn't talking about getting a 30% return on the software- but in using the software to get the same 30% profit margin as they do out of their own hardware. Two different things.
When something like this comes up, what anyone with half a brain says is that "Apple makes their money on hardware, *not* software." Which is true. However, what kind of profit margin is their on your average Mac? From what info I can find, it'd around 30%. So, for Apple to make the same kind of money that they make selling hardware, they'd have to charge Dell 30% for an OS X license on each machine- bumping that $1200 PC running Windows up to $1560, out of which Apple would get $360.
Is it just me or is that exorborant? Maybe it could go down a bit, if we're thinking about a big increase in the number of OS X boxes sold... But still, I can't imagine Apple wanting to risk going toward being a software company again or consumers willing to pay a $300-600 Apple tax on their machines...