>> ask anyone who has a Rage Maxx and Windows 2000
That was a somewhat different issue, as it had as much to do with how Win2k handled the two GPUs on the card together, as with how ATI designed the Rage Maxx. If you check now, you might find it surprising how many of ATI's legacy cards have had newer drivers released. I've even found W2K drivers for my old AIW Pro card, which most people thought ATI abandoned close to a decade ago.
ATI still has a ways to go, but thier current level of driver support has gone from non-existant to visible, which is an unbelievable improvement from the viewpoint of most of thier users. If this keeps up, they might even be able to claim a consistent release schedule some time soon.
This is also less of a break than it was when ATI went from the Rage 128 series to the Radeon. As the R300 is still based on the same design of the original Radeon. They may never be able to claim a complete UD model for all thier cards, but they is still some uniformity that can carry thru all generations of the Radeon.
Now that JPEG 2000 has finally been standardized, and more companies are starting to adopt it as a better JPEG both for compression and image quality; can't the industry just tell Forgent to stick their patent where the pixels don't shine?
Yes, I know there would still be a transition period to convert all that Pr0n over.
>Anyone remember seeing Romana #1 earlier in the series as another character?
Ah, no, but apparently she (Mary Tamm) did play an adversary of the doctor in an earlier season?... Unfortunately I can not find information on what the role or episode was that she first appeared in.
Your question threw me for a second, because I do remember Romana #2 (Lalla
Ward) earlier in the series as another character. So I guess both actresses share that distinction as well in their Whovian careers.
The Linking Form has a comments field...
on
Blogspace vs. NPR
·
· Score: 2
http://www.npr.org/about/linking_form.html
Instead of flooding the ombudsman's mailbox with outraged email. Why doesn't the word get spread to simply fill out the form, and leave your negative comments in there?
It is a bad idea to look directly at the sun without protecting your eyes in some fashion.
It is possible to look with the naked eye if the viewers eyes have already had a chance to adjust to the brightness of the day, and the exposure is kept short. (Something I experienced as a less clueful youth)... BUT, Even then some minor damage is likely to occur, with symptoms that may not show up until later on (something I am probably going to learn about as I get older).
IMO, the likelyhood of damage from looking at an eclipse is made greater because the viewers eyes do not have the natural feedback of ambient daylight to adjust to before looking in the direction of the Sun. Instead they will probably try to adjust to the lessening of reflected light in the environment, and the effect you will get would be similar to someone turning on a very bright light when you are in a darkened room; without the benefit of being able to close your eyes.
Thru google I found:
http://www.hermit.org/Eclipse/what_observe.shtml
which appears to be a pretty good sight for advice on properly viewing an eclipse. (I do disagree that even looking at a total eclipse can be safe, because humans don't have very good timing for knowing when to look away again from totality).
I too am looking forward to seeing this eclipse if I can, but please do be careful...
You seem to be following the idea that the average user never learns to expand their use of the computer beyond basic application and single user functions (one main program at a time).
But, the vast majority of users of modern systems do not run in single app space. What degrades systems for most users is not the single "killer app" that is meant to take advantage of the fullest potential of the computer; it is all the low level, background apps and services that are put in to improve the usabilty of the system for the end-user.
The average user probably runs more of these "gee whiz" utilities than the "power user", and that has a cumulative impact on performance.
For the average user, the benefit it in making the computer a more user-friendly device; for the power user it is about making the system more efficient for the few apps that the "need" to get the most potential out of.
You point out the Ars Technica recommendations; as a baseline, perhaps, for what market segments various users may fall into. Yet, at the same time those recommedations themselves have been recently updated, showing that the needs of the users do change over time as new technology comes along for them to make use of.
What more CPU gets you varys with the user, from the true geek to the absolute newbie, that perception is different for each one. But the value remains the same: to improve the ability of the system to respond to the users needs.
What he describes is a half second flash of movement of the wallcrawler swinging around various buildings in New York. He swings to a flagpole on top of one building, takes an instant to get his bearings, and is off again. There is an American Flag attached to the flagpole; frankly I (and the rest of the audience) would have been more surprised if there had not been a flag attached to that pole. That is a common cliche of American films, New York City films, Superhero films, many action films and certainly every summer blockbuster film that has been released in the U.S. since Independence Day (and probably before) .
Katz seems to be out of touch with the recovery of post-9/11 America, where he sees something "unabashedly domestic and patriotic" in a part of a film that prior to 9/11 would just have been seen as Hollywood S.O.P.
I actually preferred the way they treated the flag in Spider-Man; it was a good-feeling yet subtle reminder of where the story takes place (and where some of the values of the Main Character come from), without needing to bash that message in as if the viewers are too ignorant to feel pride in our common upbringing.
And unless I missed my modern geography, all the other skyscrapers on the island of Manhatten are "not far from where the World Trade Center Towers used to stand", relatively speaking.
Hotmail is considered such an easy target I'd bet someone created/generated a list of possible email addresses from a@hotmail.com to zzzzzzzzzz@hotmail.com long ago.
Send out "test spam" in batches to validate each possible account, and you essentially create a brute force spam list generator.
Either that, or hotmail still allows some wildcard exploits to work.
"Do you know how many more games they're going to have to sell now just to break even?"
Yes, just as many games as they would have had to sell before... People make the mistake of thinking that consoles sell the games, when the reality is the other way around. Only the most hardcore of gamers buy the console sight unseen, the rest of the public waits for the release of the game that they really want to play to justify getting the console for all the other games it can also run. If Microsoft can keep the release schedule going for newer games, and keep the advertising effort/hype going for people to want to play those games, then they will also continue to sell X-Boxes, and make further revenue on X-Box accessories.
It may cost them in the short term to have an oversupply, but IIRC Sony suffered last year from not being able to make enough PS2s to meet demand during critical sales periods. Some people were trying to call that a failure too.
MS is in a better position to keep a steady flow of consoles on store shelves, and meet hoped for demand in the summer and winter sales seasons. They just have to convince retailers that the upcoming game releases are enough to generate continued interest in buying the box, and (more importantly) keep the game designers convinced that the platform will continue for another year or two.
The biggest mistake MS (and Sony and Nintendo) have made was in keeping thier sales predictions and expectations at such a high level in the face of ongoing economic problems and more recent political and social concerns that, while they don't directly effect the demand, do have an effect on how buyers will proritize making the purchase of a console.
Just like all the consoles before it, it will take more than 6 months on the market for the X-box to really show as a success or a failure.
Apparrantly he still is, or is at least acting as a consultant for OS development. When AMD did their teleconference recently announcing MS support for the Opteron processor, they made a point of name-dropping Mr. Cutler as a point of reference for the work MS is doing putting in x86-64 support.
They did not go into specifics as to what role he is playing at the company, but he still has some official position there.
Microsoft can hang in the game a lot longer than Sega had the resources to.
You are right Sony is bigger, but you are wrong to imply that the only front Sony has is in consumer electronics, and that MS cannot consolidate many of its marketing efforts in much the same way that Sony does.
It can be argued that it was in MS interest to encourage the design of games that could then be ported to the PC as well (and vice-versa); but they do seem slow on delivering on that front.
No second chance for a console? The Dreamcast had several second chances during its distribution, but Sega suffered from "IBM syndrome" in thinking that marketing meant doing everything except actually showing the product. That's not to say that Microsoft might still fail with the Xbox, but its a bit too premature to call.
More users will upgrade their OS and apps for the "Gee Whiz" features of the new release than for bug fixes. Only the nerds like us get excited about actual functional improvements.
Microsoft is in a doubly beneficial position with respect to the security initiative...
First, (as shown above) they can try to spin this whole thing into bonus marketing for current and future products.
Second, if they actually do make a dent in their codebase now by patching flaws and improving the design process, that can leave them in a better position to manage new products and ventures that are based on the same technology.
If they are able to play this off right, they can end up turing the cost and effort of vetting thier code into instant advertising, and possibly end up with a better platform on which to throw in all the other bells and whistles that really make thier products saleable to Joe Blow at CompsR_US.
The title of the Star Trek episode where warring planets conducted battles completely thru computer simulation. This advance takes us closer to that future possibilty.
But, instead of modeling Nuclear detonations, I think the interests of warfare could also be served by setting up an ASCI White as a massive international UT server, and let national conflicts be settled by a nice game of capture the flag.
No they do not, what you may have witnesses is a male lion killing the cubs fathered by another lion, in order to better thier own chances of having cubs that can survive to adulthood. Its a brutal and alien (to us) way to live, but that does not mean that groups of lion cannot form bonds between
Unfortunately that is not much different that the actions of some human parents thru history in response to the option of raising someone elses child. You seem to be underestimating both cats and humans.
Whatever you might think of it, W9x was far ahead of those older versions. More stable, at least as secure, and only more virus prone as a "virtue" of extending new technology over the old DOS/Windows design.
For something that you consider the worst OS, it would install on my system of that time when OS/2 would not. I don't praise W9x for that, nor do I hold it against OS/2; in neither case were we shown examples of comprehensive OS design.
It seems that a common theme for Content Control stories coming out this year has been (will be) how efforts by people like this to show the "evils" of technology will backfire due to their own basic lack of understanding of how the technology works and where it comes from.
(Not to mention that his speech also served to make more people aware of how easy it could be for them to get online and share music)
I know that is a little redundant, as it has been going on thru most of the "Information Age". But its coming to the point where this may be used more as a tool in and of itself - all we do is point out the interconnections in the business relationships between producers and providers, and then watch as people like Greene trip over thier own conflict of interest.
It's not that strange, what you are witnessing is a tidal phenomenon.
The first wave (low tide) is the knee-jerk reaction crowd that post the
first thing that comes to mind on seeing the thread article. This provides
the initial stream of conciousness that sets the tone for thread responses
with most followup posts following the same basic themes.
The second wave (High tide) is where the majority of slashdot readers have
at least seen the Article header, and the nature of the posts becomes related
more towards personal anecdotes or preliminary analysis. Here is also where
a lot of the posts take on a corrective/informative slant, with a few
sub-threads going off on their own tangents. One might assume that the
majority of rebuttal and oppposing viewpoints can be seen here.
The third wave (ebb tide) is where the readers in later time zones or
who catch/. later in the day come to get their 2 cents (Euro) in.
This can also be where those who have done more in-depth research finally
come back to post thier findings/opinions on things. Unfortunately by
then most readers have moved on to the newest thread, or gotten all the
Pro-/Anti- rhetoric out of their systems for the
day, so just don't care as much as when the article first posted.
Sounds more like Roddenberry with every description...
Let's make this clear, I Whedon Anti-Trek, or
is he anti-what Paramount has done to the Star Trek
continuity and story universe in the-"Quest to Make a Buck"?
If the former, then he can sod off, the original design
and creation of Star Trek was based on many of the same notions
(Original stories, avoiding cliches, taking conventional wisdom
for a turn) that you credit Whedon for.
If the latter, then more power and luck to him, for as that
original run of Star Trek found out:
"Somebody needs to teach all these people the basics of good storytelling,"
- What does that have to do with ratings?
There will be a supplemental media released
"early" next year... DVD+R which will fill the
cheap recordable gap in the media line for
DVD+RW drives.
For the time being the only media you will be able to
get for the HP, Phillips, and so forth drives will be DVD+RW.
Which is one of the reasons I am holding off (saving up) for
a drive in a few months.
1. It will be clearer which standard is more compatible.
2. The media selection for both should be better at that point.
I think you miss the point, Americans believe that politicians
worldwide are highly influenced by the men with the money.
It is not just our own politicians that we think of as slightly
corrupt, or at least tempted by power; it is all political,
religious, or economic leaders that we view with equal suspicion.
It is considered a sign (for us) of a free and democratic
society that its citizens have the ability to question each
and every decision made by that societies lawmakers, regardless
of any prior trust.
We would probably consider it a sign of an immature democracy to
see such easy acceptance of political decision making that you
imply other world governments pass off.
I'd say it is more a matter of perspective and underlying culture.
The EU states had a much smoother transition from Monarchy, Theocracy,
and Military rule to a state of Democratic governance. While the
very establishment of the United States was set on the precedent of
revolutionary change in political systems, while carrying forward
the philosophy that the people might have to do so again some day.
"It was odd how cool and natural all of the reporters and anchors were. Everybody said they were shocked, but nobody seemed to be."
No Jon, that wasn't odd at all...
Reporters (especially News Anchors) have to deal with reporting tragedies
large and small, distant and personal, every day. Part of the many
years of experience they put into the role is learning to control
thier own emotional response to tragedy in order to better serve the
public need for accurate information, especially in this age where
a mis-reported piece of data can become instantly repeated around
the world thru the very advent of networked system that also bring
them the basic news items that they are trying to disseminate.
I was listening to NPR (National Public Radio) coverage for as long
as I could stand during this past week; and there we're many occasions
during this tragedy where the reporters were either unable to continue
a line of questioning, or we're simply too overwhelmed to continue reading
the various reports that were constantly being thrust in front of them
moment by moment.
I was amazed and impressed that they could continue reporting the
news, when I know that so many of them have personal experience with
many of the places and people struck down by these events.
And I am thankful that they were able to serve so calmly, to help
in reducing widespread panic, and to serve some small part in the
rescue efforts that are still ongoing.
CN was already showing clips from the first episode "Asteroid Blues" as part of the
promos for Benop.
We in the west would have less of a problem
with the violence in general, and one of the
reasons it didn't air on Japanese TV was that
it came out during a backlash against volent
images in the media in general.
If they do choose to show it, it will give us
a good barometer of how they plan to deal with
the rest of the series.
Actually, it more like talking about engines in
terms of Horsepower. But since the engines/CPUs
themselves are not exactly the same, the point
on how well they actually perform based on that
number its lost on most users.
The CPU has not stopped being an issue, because every OS
throws on additional apps and services to make things
easier/more efficient for the user, which takes up
more processing overhead for simple tasks.
Users who are already happy with the things they can
do with the computer today would see no need to move
forward in CPU performance, while others are still
seeing the CPU struggle with new tasks/services like
voice recognition/dictation, and providing more AI
into the interface.
You are right that the real bottleneck for the majority
of apps is not the processor, but rather the slowness of
the rest of the system (from the Hard Drives down) in
simply launching and accessing the app to allow the
CPU to have something to process.
Slashdot Mirror
>> ask anyone who has a Rage Maxx and Windows 2000
That was a somewhat different issue, as it had as much to do with
how Win2k handled the two GPUs on the card together, as with how ATI
designed the Rage Maxx. If you check now, you might find it surprising
how many of ATI's legacy cards have had newer drivers released. I've even
found W2K drivers for my old AIW Pro card, which most people thought ATI
abandoned close to a decade ago.
ATI still has a ways to go, but thier current level of driver support
has gone from non-existant to visible, which is an unbelievable improvement
from the viewpoint of most of thier users. If this keeps up, they might
even be able to claim a consistent release schedule some time soon.
This is also less of a break than it was when ATI went from the Rage 128 series
to the Radeon. As the R300 is still based on the same design of the original
Radeon. They may never be able to claim a complete UD model for all thier
cards, but they is still some uniformity that can carry thru all generations
of the Radeon.
Now that JPEG 2000 has finally been standardized, and more companies are starting
to adopt it as a better JPEG both for compression and image quality;
can't the industry just tell Forgent to stick their patent where the
pixels don't shine?
Yes, I know there would still be a transition period to convert all that Pr0n over.
>Anyone remember seeing Romana #1 earlier in the series as another character?
Ah, no, but apparently she (Mary Tamm) did play an adversary of the doctor
in an earlier season?... Unfortunately I can not find information on what the
role or episode was that she first appeared in.
Your question threw me for a second, because I do remember Romana #2 (Lalla
Ward) earlier in the series as another character. So I guess both actresses
share that distinction as well in their Whovian careers.
http://www.npr.org/about/linking_form.html
Instead of flooding the ombudsman's mailbox with outraged email.
Why doesn't the word get spread to simply fill out the form, and
leave your negative comments in there?
It is a bad idea to look directly at the sun without
l
protecting your eyes in some fashion.
It is possible to look with the naked eye if the
viewers eyes have already had a chance to adjust to
the brightness of the day, and the exposure is
kept short. (Something I experienced as a less
clueful youth)...
BUT, Even then some minor damage is likely to occur,
with symptoms that may not show up until later on
(something I am probably going to learn about as I get older).
IMO, the likelyhood of damage from looking at an eclipse is
made greater because the viewers eyes do not have the natural
feedback of ambient daylight to adjust to before looking in the
direction of the Sun. Instead they will probably try to adjust
to the lessening of reflected light in the environment, and
the effect you will get would be similar to someone turning on a
very bright light when you are in a darkened room; without
the benefit of being able to close your eyes.
Thru google I found:
http://www.hermit.org/Eclipse/what_observe.shtm
which appears to be a pretty good sight for advice on properly
viewing an eclipse. (I do disagree that even looking at a
total eclipse can be safe, because humans don't have very good
timing for knowing when to look away again from totality).
I too am looking forward to seeing this eclipse if I can, but
please do be careful...
You seem to be following the idea that the average user never learns
to expand their use of the computer beyond basic application and
single user functions (one main program at a time).
But, the vast majority of users of modern systems do not run in single app
space. What degrades systems for most users is not the single "killer app"
that is meant to take advantage of the fullest potential of the computer;
it is all the low level, background apps and services that are put in to
improve the usabilty of the system for the end-user.
The average user probably runs more of these "gee whiz" utilities than
the "power user", and that has a cumulative impact on performance.
For the average user, the benefit it in making the computer a more
user-friendly device; for the power user it is about making the
system more efficient for the few apps that the "need" to get the
most potential out of.
You point out the Ars Technica recommendations; as a baseline, perhaps,
for what market segments various users may fall into.
Yet, at the same time those recommedations themselves have been recently
updated, showing that the needs of the users do change over time as
new technology comes along for them to make use of.
What more CPU gets you varys with the user, from the true geek to the
absolute newbie, that perception is different for each one. But the
value remains the same: to improve the ability of the system to respond
to the users needs.
No, Jon just forgot to watch the movie again.
(SPOILER)
What he describes is a half second flash of movement of the wallcrawler
swinging around various buildings in New York. He swings to a flagpole
on top of one building, takes an instant to get his bearings, and is off again.
There is an American Flag attached to the flagpole; frankly I
(and the rest of the audience) would have been more surprised if there had
not been a flag attached to that pole. That is a common cliche of
American films, New York City films, Superhero films, many action films
and certainly every summer blockbuster film that has been released in the U.S.
since Independence Day (and probably before) .
Katz seems to be out of touch with the recovery of post-9/11 America, where
he sees something "unabashedly domestic and patriotic" in a part of a film
that prior to 9/11 would just have been seen as Hollywood S.O.P.
I actually preferred the way they treated the flag in Spider-Man; it was
a good-feeling yet subtle reminder of where the story takes place (and where
some of the values of the Main Character come from), without needing to bash
that message in as if the viewers are too ignorant to feel pride in our
common upbringing.
And unless I missed my modern geography, all the other skyscrapers
on the island of Manhatten are "not far from where the World Trade Center Towers
used to stand", relatively speaking.
Hotmail is considered such an easy target I'd
bet someone created/generated a list of possible
email addresses from a@hotmail.com to
zzzzzzzzzz@hotmail.com long ago.
Send out "test spam" in batches to validate
each possible account, and you essentially create
a brute force spam list generator.
Either that, or hotmail still allows some wildcard exploits to work.
"Do you know how many more games they're going to have to sell now just to break even?"
Yes, just as many games as they would have had to sell before... People make the mistake
of thinking that consoles sell the games, when the reality is the other way around.
Only the most hardcore of gamers buy the console sight unseen, the rest of the public waits
for the release of the game that they really want to play to justify getting the console
for all the other games it can also run. If Microsoft can keep the release schedule going
for newer games, and keep the advertising effort/hype going for people to want to play those
games, then they will also continue to sell X-Boxes, and make further revenue on X-Box accessories.
It may cost them in the short term to have an oversupply, but IIRC Sony suffered last year
from not being able to make enough PS2s to meet demand during critical sales periods.
Some people were trying to call that a failure too.
MS is in a better position to keep a steady flow of consoles on store shelves, and meet
hoped for demand in the summer and winter sales seasons. They just have to convince
retailers that the upcoming game releases are enough to generate continued
interest in buying the box, and (more importantly) keep the game designers convinced
that the platform will continue for another year or two.
The biggest mistake MS (and Sony and Nintendo) have made was in keeping thier sales predictions
and expectations at such a high level in the face of ongoing economic problems and more recent
political and social concerns that, while they don't directly effect the demand, do have
an effect on how buyers will proritize making the purchase of a console.
Just like all the consoles before it, it will take more than 6 months on the market for
the X-box to really show as a success or a failure.
Apparrantly he still is, or is at least acting as a consultant for
OS development. When AMD did their teleconference recently
announcing MS support for the Opteron processor, they made a
point of name-dropping Mr. Cutler as a point of reference
for the work MS is doing putting in x86-64 support.
They did not go into specifics as to what role he is playing
at the company, but he still has some official position there.
Microsoft can hang in the game a lot longer than Sega had the resources to.
You are right Sony is bigger, but you are wrong to imply that the only
front Sony has is in consumer electronics, and that MS cannot
consolidate many of its marketing efforts in much the same way that Sony
does.
It can be argued that it was in MS interest to encourage the design of
games that could then be ported to the PC as well (and vice-versa); but
they do seem slow on delivering on that front.
No second chance for a console? The Dreamcast had several second chances
during its distribution, but Sega suffered from "IBM syndrome" in
thinking that marketing meant doing everything except actually showing
the product. That's not to say that Microsoft might still fail with
the Xbox, but its a bit too premature to call.
More users will upgrade their OS and apps for the "Gee Whiz"
features of the new release than for bug fixes. Only the nerds
like us get excited about actual functional improvements.
Microsoft is in a doubly beneficial position with respect to
the security initiative...
First, (as shown above) they can try to spin this whole thing
into bonus marketing for current and future products.
Second, if they actually do make a dent in their codebase now
by patching flaws and improving the design process, that can
leave them in a better position to manage new products and
ventures that are based on the same technology.
If they are able to play this off right, they can end up turing
the cost and effort of vetting thier code into instant advertising,
and possibly end up with a better platform on which to throw in all
the other bells and whistles that really make thier products saleable
to Joe Blow at CompsR_US.
The title of the Star Trek episode where warring
planets conducted battles completely thru computer
simulation. This advance takes us closer to that
future possibilty.
But, instead of modeling Nuclear detonations, I
think the interests of warfare could also be served by setting up an ASCI White as a massive
international UT server, and let national conflicts be settled by a nice game of capture
the flag.
Best two out of three?
" Yes they brutally kill and eat their own "
No they do not, what you may have witnesses is a male lion killing the cubs fathered by another lion, in order to better thier own chances of
having cubs that can survive to adulthood.
Its a brutal and alien (to us) way to live, but
that does not mean that groups of lion cannot form
bonds between
Unfortunately that is not much different that
the actions of some human parents thru history
in response to the option of raising someone elses
child. You seem to be underestimating both cats and humans.
Windows for Workgroups, or Windows 3.x.
Whatever you might think of it, W9x was far
ahead of those older versions. More stable,
at least as secure, and only more virus prone
as a "virtue" of extending new technology over
the old DOS/Windows design.
For something that you consider the worst OS,
it would install on my system of that time when
OS/2 would not. I don't praise W9x for that,
nor do I hold it against OS/2; in neither case
were we shown examples of comprehensive OS design.
It seems that a common theme for Content Control stories coming out this
year has been (will be) how efforts by people like this to show
the "evils" of technology will backfire due to their own basic lack
of understanding of how the technology works and where it comes from.
(Not to mention that his speech also served to make more people aware of
how easy it could be for them to get online and share music)
I know that is a little redundant, as it has been going on thru most
of the "Information Age". But its coming to the point where
this may be used more as a tool in and of itself - all we do is point
out the interconnections in the business relationships between
producers and providers, and then watch as people like Greene trip
over thier own conflict of interest.
I haven't rewatched the movie to confirm it, but
a friend told me the Chocobos could be seen as
insignia on some of the characters uniforms.
That and Cid/Sid are the most consistent extra
themes of final fantasy titles.
It's not that strange, what you are witnessing is a tidal phenomenon.
/. later in the day come to get their 2 cents (Euro) in.
The first wave (low tide) is the knee-jerk reaction crowd that post the
first thing that comes to mind on seeing the thread article. This provides
the initial stream of conciousness that sets the tone for thread responses
with most followup posts following the same basic themes.
The second wave (High tide) is where the majority of slashdot readers have
at least seen the Article header, and the nature of the posts becomes related
more towards personal anecdotes or preliminary analysis. Here is also where
a lot of the posts take on a corrective/informative slant, with a few
sub-threads going off on their own tangents. One might assume that the
majority of rebuttal and oppposing viewpoints can be seen here.
The third wave (ebb tide) is where the readers in later time zones or
who catch
This can also be where those who have done more in-depth research finally
come back to post thier findings/opinions on things. Unfortunately by
then most readers have moved on to the newest thread, or gotten all the
Pro-/Anti- rhetoric out of their systems for the
day, so just don't care as much as when the article first posted.
That would be before the two price drops that
Sony made to the PS2 in the past year?
Sounds more like Roddenberry with every description...
Let's make this clear, I Whedon Anti-Trek, or
is he anti-what Paramount has done to the Star Trek
continuity and story universe in the-"Quest to Make a Buck"?
If the former, then he can sod off, the original design
and creation of Star Trek was based on many of the same notions
(Original stories, avoiding cliches, taking conventional wisdom
for a turn) that you credit Whedon for.
If the latter, then more power and luck to him, for as that
original run of Star Trek found out:
"Somebody needs to teach all these people the basics of good storytelling,"
- What does that have to do with ratings?
AFAIK DVD+RW drives cannot write to DVD-R media.
There will be a supplemental media released
"early" next year... DVD+R which will fill the
cheap recordable gap in the media line for
DVD+RW drives.
For the time being the only media you will be able to
get for the HP, Phillips, and so forth drives will be DVD+RW.
Which is one of the reasons I am holding off (saving up) for
a drive in a few months.
1. It will be clearer which standard is more compatible.
2. The media selection for both should be better at that point.
I think you miss the point, Americans believe that politicians
worldwide are highly influenced by the men with the money.
It is not just our own politicians that we think of as slightly
corrupt, or at least tempted by power; it is all political,
religious, or economic leaders that we view with equal suspicion.
It is considered a sign (for us) of a free and democratic
society that its citizens have the ability to question each
and every decision made by that societies lawmakers, regardless
of any prior trust.
We would probably consider it a sign of an immature democracy to
see such easy acceptance of political decision making that you
imply other world governments pass off.
I'd say it is more a matter of perspective and underlying culture.
The EU states had a much smoother transition from Monarchy, Theocracy,
and Military rule to a state of Democratic governance. While the
very establishment of the United States was set on the precedent of
revolutionary change in political systems, while carrying forward
the philosophy that the people might have to do so again some day.
"It was odd how cool and natural all of the reporters and anchors were. Everybody said they were shocked, but nobody seemed to be."
No Jon, that wasn't odd at all...
Reporters (especially News Anchors) have to deal with reporting tragedies
large and small, distant and personal, every day. Part of the many
years of experience they put into the role is learning to control
thier own emotional response to tragedy in order to better serve the
public need for accurate information, especially in this age where
a mis-reported piece of data can become instantly repeated around
the world thru the very advent of networked system that also bring
them the basic news items that they are trying to disseminate.
I was listening to NPR (National Public Radio) coverage for as long
as I could stand during this past week; and there we're many occasions
during this tragedy where the reporters were either unable to continue
a line of questioning, or we're simply too overwhelmed to continue reading
the various reports that were constantly being thrust in front of them
moment by moment.
I was amazed and impressed that they could continue reporting the
news, when I know that so many of them have personal experience with
many of the places and people struck down by these events.
And I am thankful that they were able to serve so calmly, to help
in reducing widespread panic, and to serve some small part in the
rescue efforts that are still ongoing.
CN was already showing clips from the first episode "Asteroid Blues" as part of the
promos for Benop.
We in the west would have less of a problem
with the violence in general, and one of the
reasons it didn't air on Japanese TV was that
it came out during a backlash against volent
images in the media in general.
If they do choose to show it, it will give us
a good barometer of how they plan to deal with
the rest of the series.
Actually, it more like talking about engines in
terms of Horsepower. But since the engines/CPUs
themselves are not exactly the same, the point
on how well they actually perform based on that
number its lost on most users.
The CPU has not stopped being an issue, because every OS
throws on additional apps and services to make things
easier/more efficient for the user, which takes up
more processing overhead for simple tasks.
Users who are already happy with the things they can
do with the computer today would see no need to move
forward in CPU performance, while others are still
seeing the CPU struggle with new tasks/services like
voice recognition/dictation, and providing more AI
into the interface.
You are right that the real bottleneck for the majority
of apps is not the processor, but rather the slowness of
the rest of the system (from the Hard Drives down) in
simply launching and accessing the app to allow the
CPU to have something to process.