If they start to think we are going into a depression *cough* then they will cut off research and start fortifying existing tech.
It is unfortunate that many tech companies take this approach, but if you look back to the 2001 tech bubble burst, the companies that came out ahead of the rest with a better market position were the ones that put more money into R&D. Hopefully HP will keep moving forward with this line of research, they have made amazing strides in advacing this realm of electronics. We desparately need to move away from our current form of memory technology that is 30+ years old in its transistor based design. Memristor and quantum data storage are the computer technologies of the future, and I for one cannot wait to get ahold of a pocket computer with entangled photon links back to a centralized quantum computer system. The future is bright indeed, now where did I put those shades...
What, you want him to grab people randomly from the street?
Actually, that might not be such a bad idea. A cabinet post that rotates through random people from across the nation, to keep fresh ideas flowing. To paraphrase an old adage, in every ton of coal there is a good possibility of finding a diamond. Sure most of the time you would have someone who brings nothing of value to the room, but every once in a while, you may come across a real gem that gives insight to a problem the Washington types might never have known existed.
Is the question of whether or not it is okay to kill anything other than a moral question?
Legislation against murder is not purely moral, as killing someone definitely infringes on their right to "Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness."
For example, prostitution laws. Or how about laws against consensual oral and/or anal sex that exist in some States?/p>
These are state laws and as such are a reflection of the local constituency's beliefs, although it could be argued that there are medical reasons for such legislation, and not simply prudish ones.
Or, to delve into an issue of contemporary civil law, how about the law preventing people from marrying members of the same sex?
My interpretation of those statutes is that they are for tax purposes, since civil unions are not prohibited, but the tax benefitting status of marriage is, which should be reserved for a family unit capable of reproduction, as the tax benefits are intended to support a continuance of the species.
The primary difference between this case and the examples you provided is that her actions were specifically directed at the victim with the intention of harming said victim. And she succeeded in doing just that.
That is a good point, one I must concede to you, although without reading the messages in question I would not be able to say whether or not suicide was the intended outcome of the emotional harm. My attempt at allegory was inappropriate to this situation.
Unfortunately, committing suicide is not against the law in the US, although attempted suicide is considered attempted murder, and in that case, if the girl had attempted but was not successful, Lori Drew would be guilty of contributing to the delinquency of a minor, but only if she had suggested the girl kill herself.
I do not know the contents of the messages in this case, so I don't know the exact wording of what was said, and I can't seem to find the MySpace profile in question. It may be morally reprehensible for someone to pose as a potential peer with the intent of causing emotional harm, but we do not legislate morality, nor should we. Society takes care of moral issues, and the Drews have already been ostracized by their community over this.
If Ms. Drew is legally responsible for this girl's death, then should rappers be responsible for someone doing drive-bys because they heard it in the lyrics, or, to use an old reference, should Beavis and Butthead be responsible for some kids burning down a trailer park because the cartoon characters were pyros?
You forget the newer means of radiation shielding based upon cloaking technology. An EM waveguide surrounding the ship would simply cause any high-energy particles to be diverted around the craft, and use their own energy to do it. I myself will wait for a working Bussard Ramjet singleship so I can volunteer for seeding planets orbiting G3-4 stars in our local group for future colonization. The basis of the technology is essentially the same as the shielding, just having the output focused into a fusion pinch-point. Then you get the benefit of shielding as well as propulsion, all from one piece of hardware.
If this technology gets put into use, conspiracy theorists will start asking why they are covering up the contrail activity. Unless the "chemtrails" are not susceptible to microwave heating dispersement, then they will have something else to point at. I initially thought this was an article about a device to combat chemtrails being developed by said conspiracy theorists.
It will be interesting to see if a trend develops of pre-cooked birds falling from the sky behind jetliners outfitted with this technology.
Fortunately, they are not critical components of our economy, and as such, do not deserve bailouts. The auto industry directly and indirectly employs millions of middle class Americans, where as the recording industry only employs a few tens of thousands of upper-middle to upper class people who beleieve they should be repeatedly paid for doing work once. I could care less if these parasites lose their livelyhoods, the music I listen to is done by artist who enjoy creating music, and releasse it freely in digital format, and only ask to cover the costs of media if you want a hard copy.
That sounds much like the X10 system which has been around over 30 years. I use the wireless remote for tuning on/off my powered subwoofer when I want/don't want to piss off the neighbors, and for my 4' blacklight that has no switch of its own.
This is incorrect. The only light I get on my 360 when it is off is the amber LED on the power brick that is always on, unless I unplug it. If you don't mind getting up and going over to the console to flip a switch to turn it off completely, you can always just unplug it.
The Wii is not more efficient, it simply does not do as much. If it was as capable of graphics and processing as the PS3 or XB360, it would consume a lot more power.
That's like trying to compare a single LED flashlight running on a couple of button cell batteries to a dive light using lantern batteries.
The LED may only draw 20mA at 3V, or 60mW, while the dive light uses 0.5A at 12V, or 6W, 2 orders of magnitude greater, but the LED only puts out 2-3cp, while the dive light does 2-3Kcp, which actually makes the dive light more efficient by an order of magnitude.
3cp / 60mw = 50cp/W
3Kcp / 6W = 500cp/W
I did, however, find it somewhat amusing that the Wii uses less power than the Gamecube.
What I take issue with, after reading the entire report, is that they give no citation as to where they derived the power cost and CO2 emission numbers from. Obviously, different power production techniques would amount to different emissions and costs, e.g. solar or wind power in a personal or community installation would have a higher initial cost, with virtually no monthly cost and very little CO2 emissions, and those arising mainly from the production of the hardware.
Are you trying to say that you don't get paid until someone buys your game? I'm pretty sure you earn a salary during the development cycle, and maybe a bonus/profit sharing/royalty for new copies sold after release. The used game I may decide to save $10 on, or more likely couldn't find new anywhere, you have already been paid for when it was bought new. As long as you continue to make good games, people will buy new copies that can be bought used when they are done with them, while still providing funding for you to make another game. A game can't be bought used unless someone has already bought new, and if your game is good enough and enough people are anticipating it, you will make plenty of money. I just don't get why someone who gets paid to do a job once thinks they are entitled to continued pay for no additional work. Auto manufacturers make no additional money on used car sales, authors do not get royalties on used book sales, why should I feel guilty you don't get paid for used game sales?
Anyway, why is the used market so good? For people who don't have any money, the used market allows them to get good games cheaply.
The price is not always the reason for buying a used game, there are some games that I have picked up used because I could not find them new anywhere in-stock, or because they were out of print. Much like going to a used bookstore, the price is not the only reason for perusing the dusty shelves, you never know what hidden gems you may find.
Aspirin is harmful in large doses, it will deteriorate the lining of your stomache, contributing to ulcers. At low enough doses, the stomache is able to repair the damage, and you gain the blood thinning benefits that help prevent heart attacks.
As someone who works in R&D, I would have to agree with that description of the engineering process. It is indeed an evolution of sorts from an initial design to the final outcome, with adaptations made from revision to revision to better suit its operating evirons, improve power efficiencies and performance, new features added and obsolete functions removed or disabled.
If I ruled the world, my agenda for the Obama presidency:
- Fix Bush's financial mess.
The President is not responsible for the economy, if you had paid attention in civics, you would know that the congress and senate have much more impact on economic matters. The President can only propose plans, and veto them, it is up to the legislature to make the laws.
- Re-establish our Constitutional rights (like, ban the PATRIOT act).
You cannot be 100% Free and 100% Secure, you have to make compromises between the two extremes. I would rather be more secure giving up some privacy that I didn't really have to begin with and allow the government to legally make use of the data they have been gathering for decades. If you haven't done anything wrong, what do you have to be afraid of? Do you seriously think we will devolve into a totalitarian police state?
- Pull us out of Iraq ASAP.
You have no understanding of military matters. An unconditional withdrawal without insuring continued stability in the region is tantamount to tossing your hands in the air and saying, "I give up!". Then we wait for the first warlord/Imam/local dictator to wrest control and begin attacking our intrests, maybe even our soil, forcing us to go back in to defend ourselves. When will people get it through their heads that the Islamic extremists hate us because we do not believe as they do, and one of the founding principals of our country was the right to believe whatever you want, which is in direct opposition to their established viewpoints.
- Go after Bin Laden where he really might be.
Bin Laden has not been seen in over 3 years, and then it was debatable if the video was recent. Getting Bin Laden will not stop Al-Quaeda, it is a terrorist organization, not something with a single, defined control center. They are designed to operate independantly, in isolation, waiting for the proper time to execute their plans.
I am not looking forward to the next 4 years, I may lose my job, or be outsourced, if my CEO gets his taxes increased, and the terrorists know they have now won.
Slashdot Mirror
If they start to think we are going into a depression *cough* then they will cut off research and start fortifying existing tech.
It is unfortunate that many tech companies take this approach, but if you look back to the 2001 tech bubble burst, the companies that came out ahead of the rest with a better market position were the ones that put more money into R&D. Hopefully HP will keep moving forward with this line of research, they have made amazing strides in advacing this realm of electronics. We desparately need to move away from our current form of memory technology that is 30+ years old in its transistor based design. Memristor and quantum data storage are the computer technologies of the future, and I for one cannot wait to get ahold of a pocket computer with entangled photon links back to a centralized quantum computer system. The future is bright indeed, now where did I put those shades...
At least you used loose correctly...
Actually, a number of studies have shown that a methane rich environment is conducive to the creation of primitive amino acids.
What, you want him to grab people randomly from the street?
Actually, that might not be such a bad idea. A cabinet post that rotates through random people from across the nation, to keep fresh ideas flowing. To paraphrase an old adage, in every ton of coal there is a good possibility of finding a diamond. Sure most of the time you would have someone who brings nothing of value to the room, but every once in a while, you may come across a real gem that gives insight to a problem the Washington types might never have known existed.
Is the question of whether or not it is okay to kill anything other than a moral question?
Legislation against murder is not purely moral, as killing someone definitely infringes on their right to "Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness."
For example, prostitution laws. Or how about laws against consensual oral and/or anal sex that exist in some States?/p>
These are state laws and as such are a reflection of the local constituency's beliefs, although it could be argued that there are medical reasons for such legislation, and not simply prudish ones.
Or, to delve into an issue of contemporary civil law, how about the law preventing people from marrying members of the same sex?
My interpretation of those statutes is that they are for tax purposes, since civil unions are not prohibited, but the tax benefitting status of marriage is, which should be reserved for a family unit capable of reproduction, as the tax benefits are intended to support a continuance of the species.
The primary difference between this case and the examples you provided is that her actions were specifically directed at the victim with the intention of harming said victim. And she succeeded in doing just that.
That is a good point, one I must concede to you, although without reading the messages in question I would not be able to say whether or not suicide was the intended outcome of the emotional harm. My attempt at allegory was inappropriate to this situation.
Unfortunately, committing suicide is not against the law in the US, although attempted suicide is considered attempted murder, and in that case, if the girl had attempted but was not successful, Lori Drew would be guilty of contributing to the delinquency of a minor, but only if she had suggested the girl kill herself.
I do not know the contents of the messages in this case, so I don't know the exact wording of what was said, and I can't seem to find the MySpace profile in question. It may be morally reprehensible for someone to pose as a potential peer with the intent of causing emotional harm, but we do not legislate morality, nor should we. Society takes care of moral issues, and the Drews have already been ostracized by their community over this.
If Ms. Drew is legally responsible for this girl's death, then should rappers be responsible for someone doing drive-bys because they heard it in the lyrics, or, to use an old reference, should Beavis and Butthead be responsible for some kids burning down a trailer park because the cartoon characters were pyros?
That bead being a massive diamond...
You forget the newer means of radiation shielding based upon cloaking technology. An EM waveguide surrounding the ship would simply cause any high-energy particles to be diverted around the craft, and use their own energy to do it. I myself will wait for a working Bussard Ramjet singleship so I can volunteer for seeding planets orbiting G3-4 stars in our local group for future colonization. The basis of the technology is essentially the same as the shielding, just having the output focused into a fusion pinch-point. Then you get the benefit of shielding as well as propulsion, all from one piece of hardware.
If this technology gets put into use, conspiracy theorists will start asking why they are covering up the contrail activity. Unless the "chemtrails" are not susceptible to microwave heating dispersement, then they will have something else to point at. I initially thought this was an article about a device to combat chemtrails being developed by said conspiracy theorists.
It will be interesting to see if a trend develops of pre-cooked birds falling from the sky behind jetliners outfitted with this technology.
Fortunately, they are not critical components of our economy, and as such, do not deserve bailouts. The auto industry directly and indirectly employs millions of middle class Americans, where as the recording industry only employs a few tens of thousands of upper-middle to upper class people who beleieve they should be repeatedly paid for doing work once. I could care less if these parasites lose their livelyhoods, the music I listen to is done by artist who enjoy creating music, and releasse it freely in digital format, and only ask to cover the costs of media if you want a hard copy.
That sounds much like the X10 system which has been around over 30 years. I use the wireless remote for tuning on/off my powered subwoofer when I want/don't want to piss off the neighbors, and for my 4' blacklight that has no switch of its own.
This is incorrect. The only light I get on my 360 when it is off is the amber LED on the power brick that is always on, unless I unplug it. If you don't mind getting up and going over to the console to flip a switch to turn it off completely, you can always just unplug it.
The Wii is not more efficient, it simply does not do as much. If it was as capable of graphics and processing as the PS3 or XB360, it would consume a lot more power.
That's like trying to compare a single LED flashlight running on a couple of button cell batteries to a dive light using lantern batteries.
The LED may only draw 20mA at 3V, or 60mW, while the dive light uses 0.5A at 12V, or 6W, 2 orders of magnitude greater, but the LED only puts out 2-3cp, while the dive light does 2-3Kcp, which actually makes the dive light more efficient by an order of magnitude.
3cp / 60mw = 50cp/W
3Kcp / 6W = 500cp/W
I did, however, find it somewhat amusing that the Wii uses less power than the Gamecube.
What I take issue with, after reading the entire report, is that they give no citation as to where they derived the power cost and CO2 emission numbers from. Obviously, different power production techniques would amount to different emissions and costs, e.g. solar or wind power in a personal or community installation would have a higher initial cost, with virtually no monthly cost and very little CO2 emissions, and those arising mainly from the production of the hardware.
Are you trying to say that you don't get paid until someone buys your game? I'm pretty sure you earn a salary during the development cycle, and maybe a bonus/profit sharing/royalty for new copies sold after release. The used game I may decide to save $10 on, or more likely couldn't find new anywhere, you have already been paid for when it was bought new. As long as you continue to make good games, people will buy new copies that can be bought used when they are done with them, while still providing funding for you to make another game. A game can't be bought used unless someone has already bought new, and if your game is good enough and enough people are anticipating it, you will make plenty of money. I just don't get why someone who gets paid to do a job once thinks they are entitled to continued pay for no additional work. Auto manufacturers make no additional money on used car sales, authors do not get royalties on used book sales, why should I feel guilty you don't get paid for used game sales?
Actually, the Mythbusters didn't get the toilet to explode until they used gunpowder.
Anyway, why is the used market so good? For people who don't have any money, the used market allows them to get good games cheaply.
The price is not always the reason for buying a used game, there are some games that I have picked up used because I could not find them new anywhere in-stock, or because they were out of print. Much like going to a used bookstore, the price is not the only reason for perusing the dusty shelves, you never know what hidden gems you may find.
Aspirin is harmful in large doses, it will deteriorate the lining of your stomache, contributing to ulcers. At low enough doses, the stomache is able to repair the damage, and you gain the blood thinning benefits that help prevent heart attacks.
If I had any mod points left I'd mark this Insightful. Good explanations, they're "dead" on. (couldn't resist)
All the dials and knobs on the Women's panel are labeled. If only it were that easy.
The dental branch of the triumvirate gets June through September for root canals.
I reclaim all my emissions for alternative energy electricity production.
Its The Onion, its not meant to be understood.
As someone who works in R&D, I would have to agree with that description of the engineering process. It is indeed an evolution of sorts from an initial design to the final outcome, with adaptations made from revision to revision to better suit its operating evirons, improve power efficiencies and performance, new features added and obsolete functions removed or disabled.
If I ruled the world, my agenda for the Obama presidency: - Fix Bush's financial mess.
The President is not responsible for the economy, if you had paid attention in civics, you would know that the congress and senate have much more impact on economic matters. The President can only propose plans, and veto them, it is up to the legislature to make the laws.
- Re-establish our Constitutional rights (like, ban the PATRIOT act).
You cannot be 100% Free and 100% Secure, you have to make compromises between the two extremes. I would rather be more secure giving up some privacy that I didn't really have to begin with and allow the government to legally make use of the data they have been gathering for decades. If you haven't done anything wrong, what do you have to be afraid of? Do you seriously think we will devolve into a totalitarian police state?
- Pull us out of Iraq ASAP.
You have no understanding of military matters. An unconditional withdrawal without insuring continued stability in the region is tantamount to tossing your hands in the air and saying, "I give up!". Then we wait for the first warlord/Imam/local dictator to wrest control and begin attacking our intrests, maybe even our soil, forcing us to go back in to defend ourselves. When will people get it through their heads that the Islamic extremists hate us because we do not believe as they do, and one of the founding principals of our country was the right to believe whatever you want, which is in direct opposition to their established viewpoints.
- Go after Bin Laden where he really might be.
Bin Laden has not been seen in over 3 years, and then it was debatable if the video was recent. Getting Bin Laden will not stop Al-Quaeda, it is a terrorist organization, not something with a single, defined control center. They are designed to operate independantly, in isolation, waiting for the proper time to execute their plans.
I am not looking forward to the next 4 years, I may lose my job, or be outsourced, if my CEO gets his taxes increased, and the terrorists know they have now won.