I've gotten used to 16:9 monitors in work, to the point that 4:3 looks wrong to me now.
My monitor at home is 16:10 (1920x1200). I don't really notice the difference, but at times those extra few lines do help.
that said, I don't code much any more. When I do, though, the 16:9 or 16:10 monitors just don't cut it. Evening turning them sideways means they are too narrow (I'm not an 80-character-per-line type). So I understand where you are coming from.
But, for most of what I do day to day, whether in work or home, 16:9 or 16:10 is fine for me. And I'm sure, then, that the "normal" user is also happy with this ratio. And manufacturers will always go with what sells the most.
More correctly, (US) Eastern Time is 4 or 5 hours behind UTC, depending on whether you are talking EDT or EST (respectively). UTC is never before or behind any other timezone, all other timezones are before or behind UTC.
I would expect something like the New York Times, which is aimed almost exclusively at the US population, to use EDT/lbs/miles/etc. However Slashdot is aimed at an International audience -- whilst it maybe be a US _based_ site, it is not aimed at a US only audience.
It is a site for nerds and geeks, which are typically people with a science-type background or interest, yet it constantly uses US terms as if it's only the US audience that matters*. And while I understand that many US readers might not understand SI units, or anything "non-American", I would still expect, somewhat, that this site should use Internationally agreed standards, and then maybe add in brackets the US equivalent. Its seems to me to be the Right Thing To Do for a site for geeks.
* which seems in keeping with most of the US population, I suppose -- at least by appearances to the rest of the world.
Indeed. So use the internationally agreed and recognised central time of UTC (or GMT) so people don't need to do extra maths firstly covering from some US based timezone back to UTC and then to their own.
Your snarky comment really just proves the point that the US thinks only about the US.
Once again, Slashdot firmly planted itself in US-only only land, completely ignoring the other 6billion+ of us on this little planet... *sigh*. At least these times cover Canada and South America, somewhat, even if only by accident.
Anyway, for the rest of us:
Partial eclipse begins at 01:07:13 UTC Totality starts at 02:11:12 UTC Maximum eclipse at 02:47:09 UTC Totality ends at 03:23:05 UTC Partial eclipse ends at 04:27:05
I can think of an awful lot of other things I'd prefer to spent $28,500 on (even if I were in a situation where $28,500 was back pocket change, which unfortunately I'm not) that would be much more preferable than that rather garish watch that I'd probable pick up, for a laugh, if it was maybe $10...
What were they thinking? Like, I don't think even Apple would go so far as to sell one of their products for that amount of money (and they _know_ that the apple fanboys would buy them at any price) -- apart from, maybe, the overly ridiculously priced gold apple watch.
Yeah, they made 500 of them, and there are probably enough people out there to buy them. And if I even meet one of them, I'll probably just laugh in his face.
Any time I'm in the US, I take out the T-Mobile 7 day plan. It's $15, if memory serves (if toy already have a card, otherwise add $15 to that for the card and registration), and comes with 1Gb data. It's not terribly fast, but good enough for email and stuff where you are away from WiFi.
Some authors and show writers have most of the story planned in advance. JMS had the Babylon 5 Universe planned out for at least 1 000 years in the past and 1 000 000 years in the future (and also had a series bible). JKRowling had the 7 years of Harry Potter planned out, and even had the last chapter of book 7 written and locked away for years. I think even for LOST, they had a couple of seasons planned out before season 1 was finished (although I seem to remember that half way through season 1 they really only decided were season 1 itself was going... I might be wrong here, though).
It does seem like most series and books, though, aren't planned, so continuity is much harder to maintain, especially where multiple writers are involved, writing different episodes and not necessarily communicating. And this is why James Cameron got the writers for the next 3 Avatars movies into a room, between them they worked out what was going to happen in the next 3 movies, and only then did he tell the writers which movies they would be writing.
I've never heard the term "rock star" being used to describe anyone but the member of a successful rock band (or of the front of a T-shirt). This seems to be a US based colloquialism, and not an international one...
I had a laptop once that didn't have a context menu key and I hated it. I had another that had the context menu key on the top row, and I hated it too.
Today, I rarely use the context menu key (certainly not consciously). I had to think for a few seconds to which key you were referring...
It amazing how usage patterns change over time without you actually noticing... hmmm....
On a European keyboard, AltGr is used as a modifier. Using that, I can get (on my Irish layout) áéíóú and € easily - I don't need to remember any non-intuitive codes that I wouldn't be able to teach my mother...
Windows-D show the desktop Windows-M minimise all windows Windows-E Explorer Windows-R Run Windows on it's own Start Menu/Screen (CTRL-ESC does the same)
(and there are plethora more that I don't use - Google knows them)
So, yeah, when you have to run Windows, it's useful to know the Windows Key shortcuts. Cuts down on having to use the mouse. Lots of old Windows keyboard shortcuts still work too, and have done since at least Windows 3:
Alt-F4 close the currently running program Alt-Space bring up the window menu. (a useful shortcut for a window that opened off-screen is Alt-Space M Left-arrow, then hold down the left mouse button and drag the window back onto the screen - Alt-Space brings up the menu, M for Move, and the left-arrow (or any arrow key) is important to do the initial move of the window before you can drag it with the mouse) CTRL-SHIFT-ESC (since Windows 95) bring up the Task manager
Again, there are a plethora more that Google knows about, but these are the ones that I still use.
By right, when touch typing, if you need a modifier key, you use the little finger of the opposite hand to press it. Hence, CTRL-M should be left-control and M. CTRL-C should be right-control and C. (same with shift).
These days, this isn't important (apart from to avoid stretching your fingers and straining your hand), but in the days of typewriters it was. (Well, apart from the CTRL keys...:) )
I hate when laptop manufacturers place the Fn key in the bottom left (to the left of the CTRL key) as I always hit it instead of the CTRL key. No matter how good the laptop, if the Fn key is in this wrong position, I won't buy it. (Some BIOSes will allow you to remap the CTRL and Fn keys, which helps).
And the debate about QWERTY keyboards will go on and on and on and on... and the keyboard default layout will never change because at this stage almost everyone in the (developed, at least) world uses a keyboard in that layout. It's too late at this point to change it.
I, for one, don't want to change. I've been typing on the QWERTY keyboard for over 30 years, and I don't want to have to relearn how to type for nor real valid reason. I find it hard enough switching between US and UK keyboard layouts, and that's only a few keys different. (I actually ended up buying a new keyboard for my US-bought laptop just because of those few key (in both senses of the word) differences.
On a UK and Irish layouts, certainly, and likely others too, the # key already has a more prominent space on the home row. For US users, it's Shift-3. For UK and Irish, Shift-3 is the pound symbol (as in £). # ("hash" for us, or "sharp", or "number" -- never "pound" or "octothorp") is a little-finger key located beside the bottom half of the enter key (which has a different shape for us than on US keyboards)
My home row is capslock ASDFGHJKL;'# bottom_of_enter_key (the 3 keys after L with shift are:@~ )
Putting it where caps-lock is now would be counter-productive for all most non-US keyboard users.
From the article, 4k keypresses per day for developers Vs 23k for managers... managers are less likely to use the _ key, so why make that prominent?! The majority of keyboard users don't use _ much.
It's hard to know what to put in place of such a large key. I'd be inclined to suggest, maybe, a local currency key (that would change behaviour based on the current locale). It's awkwark hitting AltGr-4 to get a € symbol, for example (and US keyboards don't have an AltGr key!) - especially considering that Shift-4 gives $, and I typically use shift with my left little finger (rarely my right), and AltGr is on the right, and beside the space key, so it's normally right-thumb-on-AltGr. I also have less need for $ and £.
So the £, €, $, the yen symbol, etc, could be placed next to the A key (or maybe one place to the left again) on all keyboard.
Still not needing such a big key, there's still space for another normal key here (or maybe just leave caps-lock there, just smaller, as the vast majority of use have muscle memory for its location - moving it somewhere else would cause confusing for too many people - I'd be all for making it smaller, though)
If we were to move it, I might suggest an alternative shift for special characters, especially for non-English letters, like é í á, etc. AltGr does most of them, but again, it's not a little-finger key, so it breaks the norm of typing.
From a previous article, most experts agree that using a password manager is one of the best things to do. Non-experts are three only ones that give arguments against them.
Approx. 1.6094 km. Give or take a few cm. For smaller distances/speeds, you can use eight fifths - this is what we always did. For larger distances/speeds, you can just ask Google. (or wolframalpha)
But, yeah, miles. Sheesh. Come on, USA - even Canada now uses km/h (since 1977). It's really just you and the Brits (didn't the USA, like, split from the Brits some years ago?)
Slashdot Mirror
Anyone have a mirror for this site - the images aren't loading (perhaps due to the slashdot effect?).
Reading about it, it's impressive what he accomplished. It would be nice to see it, though.
I've gotten used to 16:9 monitors in work, to the point that 4:3 looks wrong to me now.
My monitor at home is 16:10 (1920x1200). I don't really notice the difference, but at times those extra few lines do help.
that said, I don't code much any more. When I do, though, the 16:9 or 16:10 monitors just don't cut it. Evening turning them sideways means they are too narrow (I'm not an 80-character-per-line type). So I understand where you are coming from.
But, for most of what I do day to day, whether in work or home, 16:9 or 16:10 is fine for me.
And I'm sure, then, that the "normal" user is also happy with this ratio. And manufacturers will always go with what sells the most.
The 4K monitor is optional. The default one is 3200...
For those, like me, that don't know what this means, here's a nicely written article explaining it: http://www.eizoglobal.com/libr...
Wikipedia also cover the topic: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...
Yes. Yes, it would. I realised, 12 hours later, that I entered the wrong sign...
Simple mistakes like that have crashed rockets!
Sorry folks. Mea culpa.
More correctly, (US) Eastern Time is 4 or 5 hours behind UTC, depending on whether you are talking EDT or EST (respectively). UTC is never before or behind any other timezone, all other timezones are before or behind UTC.
Hence, EST = UTC+0500 and EDT = UTC+0400
It's a minor, but important, distinction.
I would expect something like the New York Times, which is aimed almost exclusively at the US population, to use EDT/lbs/miles/etc. However Slashdot is aimed at an International audience -- whilst it maybe be a US _based_ site, it is not aimed at a US only audience.
It is a site for nerds and geeks, which are typically people with a science-type background or interest, yet it constantly uses US terms as if it's only the US audience that matters*. And while I understand that many US readers might not understand SI units, or anything "non-American", I would still expect, somewhat, that this site should use Internationally agreed standards, and then maybe add in brackets the US equivalent. Its seems to me to be the Right Thing To Do for a site for geeks.
* which seems in keeping with most of the US population, I suppose -- at least by appearances to the rest of the world.
Indeed. So use the internationally agreed and recognised central time of UTC (or GMT) so people don't need to do extra maths firstly covering from some US based timezone back to UTC and then to their own.
Your snarky comment really just proves the point that the US thinks only about the US.
Because it's not "American", most likely...
Once again, Slashdot firmly planted itself in US-only only land, completely ignoring the other 6billion+ of us on this little planet... *sigh*. At least these times cover Canada and South America, somewhat, even if only by accident.
Anyway, for the rest of us:
Partial eclipse begins at 01:07:13 UTC
Totality starts at 02:11:12 UTC
Maximum eclipse at 02:47:09 UTC
Totality ends at 03:23:05 UTC
Partial eclipse ends at 04:27:05
Find these times in your local timezone here: http://www.timeanddate.com/ecl...
I can think of an awful lot of other things I'd prefer to spent $28,500 on (even if I were in a situation where $28,500 was back pocket change, which unfortunately I'm not) that would be much more preferable than that rather garish watch that I'd probable pick up, for a laugh, if it was maybe $10...
What were they thinking? Like, I don't think even Apple would go so far as to sell one of their products for that amount of money (and they _know_ that the apple fanboys would buy them at any price) -- apart from, maybe, the overly ridiculously priced gold apple watch.
Yeah, they made 500 of them, and there are probably enough people out there to buy them. And if I even meet one of them, I'll probably just laugh in his face.
Hey, if it came with KITT I might seriously consider it ... :)
I wouldn't - not until they fix the flat-tyre look... that really is a deal breaker. For me, it destroys the whole look of the watch.
Any time I'm in the US, I take out the T-Mobile 7 day plan. It's $15, if memory serves (if toy already have a card, otherwise add $15 to that for the card and registration), and comes with 1Gb data. It's not terribly fast, but good enough for email and stuff where you are away from WiFi.
Some authors and show writers have most of the story planned in advance. JMS had the Babylon 5 Universe planned out for at least 1 000 years in the past and 1 000 000 years in the future (and also had a series bible). JKRowling had the 7 years of Harry Potter planned out, and even had the last chapter of book 7 written and locked away for years. I think even for LOST, they had a couple of seasons planned out before season 1 was finished (although I seem to remember that half way through season 1 they really only decided were season 1 itself was going... I might be wrong here, though).
It does seem like most series and books, though, aren't planned, so continuity is much harder to maintain, especially where multiple writers are involved, writing different episodes and not necessarily communicating. And this is why James Cameron got the writers for the next 3 Avatars movies into a room, between them they worked out what was going to happen in the next 3 movies, and only then did he tell the writers which movies they would be writing.
I've never heard the term "rock star" being used to describe anyone but the member of a successful rock band (or of the front of a T-shirt).
This seems to be a US based colloquialism, and not an international one...
I had a laptop once that didn't have a context menu key and I hated it. I had another that had the context menu key on the top row, and I hated it too.
Today, I rarely use the context menu key (certainly not consciously). I had to think for a few seconds to which key you were referring...
It amazing how usage patterns change over time without you actually noticing... hmmm....
On a European keyboard, AltGr is used as a modifier. Using that, I can get (on my Irish layout) áéíóú and € easily - I don't need to remember any non-intuitive codes that I wouldn't be able to teach my mother...
Windows-D show the desktop
Windows-M minimise all windows
Windows-E Explorer
Windows-R Run
Windows on it's own Start Menu/Screen (CTRL-ESC does the same)
(and there are plethora more that I don't use - Google knows them)
So, yeah, when you have to run Windows, it's useful to know the Windows Key shortcuts. Cuts down on having to use the mouse. Lots of old Windows keyboard shortcuts still work too, and have done since at least Windows 3:
Alt-F4 close the currently running program
Alt-Space bring up the window menu. (a useful shortcut for a window that opened off-screen is Alt-Space M Left-arrow, then hold down the left mouse button and drag the window back onto the screen - Alt-Space brings up the menu, M for Move, and the left-arrow (or any arrow key) is important to do the initial move of the window before you can drag it with the mouse)
CTRL-SHIFT-ESC (since Windows 95) bring up the Task manager
Again, there are a plethora more that Google knows about, but these are the ones that I still use.
By right, when touch typing, if you need a modifier key, you use the little finger of the opposite hand to press it. Hence, CTRL-M should be left-control and M. CTRL-C should be right-control and C. (same with shift).
These days, this isn't important (apart from to avoid stretching your fingers and straining your hand), but in the days of typewriters it was. (Well, apart from the CTRL keys... :) )
I hate when laptop manufacturers place the Fn key in the bottom left (to the left of the CTRL key) as I always hit it instead of the CTRL key. No matter how good the laptop, if the Fn key is in this wrong position, I won't buy it. (Some BIOSes will allow you to remap the CTRL and Fn keys, which helps).
And the debate about QWERTY keyboards will go on and on and on and on... and the keyboard default layout will never change because at this stage almost everyone in the (developed, at least) world uses a keyboard in that layout. It's too late at this point to change it.
I, for one, don't want to change. I've been typing on the QWERTY keyboard for over 30 years, and I don't want to have to relearn how to type for nor real valid reason. I find it hard enough switching between US and UK keyboard layouts, and that's only a few keys different. (I actually ended up buying a new keyboard for my US-bought laptop just because of those few key (in both senses of the word) differences.
On a UK and Irish layouts, certainly, and likely others too, the # key already has a more prominent space on the home row. For US users, it's Shift-3. For UK and Irish, Shift-3 is the pound symbol (as in £). # ("hash" for us, or "sharp", or "number" -- never "pound" or "octothorp") is a little-finger key located beside the bottom half of the enter key (which has a different shape for us than on US keyboards)
My home row is :@~ )
capslock ASDFGHJKL;'# bottom_of_enter_key
(the 3 keys after L with shift are
Putting it where caps-lock is now would be counter-productive for all most non-US keyboard users.
From the article, 4k keypresses per day for developers Vs 23k for managers... managers are less likely to use the _ key, so why make that prominent?! The majority of keyboard users don't use _ much.
It's hard to know what to put in place of such a large key. I'd be inclined to suggest, maybe, a local currency key (that would change behaviour based on the current locale). It's awkwark hitting AltGr-4 to get a € symbol, for example (and US keyboards don't have an AltGr key!) - especially considering that Shift-4 gives $, and I typically use shift with my left little finger (rarely my right), and AltGr is on the right, and beside the space key, so it's normally right-thumb-on-AltGr. I also have less need for $ and £.
So the £, €, $, the yen symbol, etc, could be placed next to the A key (or maybe one place to the left again) on all keyboard.
Still not needing such a big key, there's still space for another normal key here (or maybe just leave caps-lock there, just smaller, as the vast majority of use have muscle memory for its location - moving it somewhere else would cause confusing for too many people - I'd be all for making it smaller, though)
If we were to move it, I might suggest an alternative shift for special characters, especially for non-English letters, like é í á, etc. AltGr does most of them, but again, it's not a little-finger key, so it breaks the norm of typing.
From a previous article, most experts agree that using a password manager is one of the best things to do. Non-experts are three only ones that give arguments against them.
I tend to trust the experts.
Approx. 1.6094 km. Give or take a few cm.
For smaller distances/speeds, you can use eight fifths - this is what we always did.
For larger distances/speeds, you can just ask Google. (or wolframalpha)
https://www.google.co.uk/webhp...
321869 km/h
But, yeah, miles. Sheesh. Come on, USA - even Canada now uses km/h (since 1977). It's really just you and the Brits (didn't the USA, like, split from the Brits some years ago?)
:)