I came to read these comments because of the respect I have for my fellow slashdot readers, and to read the sarcastic posts about how ignorant Americans are. Instead, I found just the opposite - even slashdot readers defending a belief in UFOs, ESP, etc. I'm frightened. I don't think I would want my kids to go to school in this country.
Please, technically-literate slashdot readers, speak up for science! Mod down the pseudo-scientists!
I asked the pretty smart guy next to me at work how long it takes for the earth to go around the sun. I was asking in order to follow up with "Well, half of americans didn't know that!" but the answer came back as "24 hours". I was amazed. Americans just don't seem to care about such matters.
Insanely useful - Huh? Why would I want to increase the cost of my business cards by a factor of 100, only to give people the ability to call me on a cheap, flimsy, awkward card phone? If you're worried that people won't spend a dime to call you, get a 1-800 number. When I call someone, even if it's a sales rep (which I have to do quite often) I want to do it with my real phone that is comfortable, has hold/mute, etc.
Absolutely. The price is right, the selection is pretty wide, and while there aren't all the big names in pop, that's fine with me; I've gotten to know some really cool, lesser-known artists that I otherwise wouldn't have.
I really recommend it if the catalog seems interesting to you. They're mp3s so I can do what I want with them - play on my laptop, mp3 player, burn to CD. Good selection, and sometimes I forget to use the site for a month so they make a nice profit. Too bad pressplay isn't hawking mp3s (as opposed to whatever nonportable secure format), otherwise I'd subscribe.
I have to agree with this. I *do* have an emusic account ($10/month, unlimited leeching) and I download when and where I want, using no client other than my web browser, so no-one is mooching off me and using my bandwidth that would otherwise be devoted to Counterstrike. I can't see the advantage of Napster over Emusic at all, given the portability issues (.nap!?), the finite catalog and the bandwidth-mooching issues.
Really, I wonder how this saga is going to turn out. I'm more than happy to pay for content, like I do when I buy books, CDs, DVDs and my Emusic subscription. But I like to feel like I have some ownership over the media and can watch/listen when I want, how I want. That seems fair to me. Not being able to, say, copy music files to my Laptop or an mp3 player is like having a book that won't open when I take it on a plane!
People probably said that about Aristotle. Wasting his time philosophizing when Greece was going down the tubes - just look at the young people these days. No respect. Lucky people like that only seldom get elected President.:)
Re:Jeez Louise, Man - Where's the Villainy?
on
The Tick to be Cancelled
·
· Score: 3, Informative
OK, perhaps a comparison to the cartoon is more relevant.
Episode 1: The Idea Men
2: Chairface
3: Dinosaur Neil
4: Mr Mental
5: The BreadMaster
6: El Seed
... and so on.
Practically every episode had a humorous villain, which gave every episode focus but made the general "life" problems more funny because of the disconnect between supervillainy and trying to fix the microwave, etc.
I'm a big fan of the Tick - the comic book is one of the few I can stand and the cartoon series is pure magic. But the live action show just didn't get its groove going after the pilot. One thing that was missing was the EVIL - most of the episodes spent more time on antics involving dates, sexual misunderstandings, etc, which are fine in their place but not really the best medium for The Tick's histrionics. To really show what the Tick can do, he needs to be yelling "Spoooon!" whilst crushing evil. If he has to overcome some sexual innuendo to do that, so much the better. But as a Seinfeld-like sitcom, the Tick was so lacklustre I actually forgot to watch a couple of episodes.
The cool thing about the world in the video
on
This is IT?
·
· Score: 1
The cool thing about the video on segway.com is not so much that the people look dorky, but that they look like how people in 1950 or 1960 would have imagined citizens in 2002 - cooking their food in microwave ovens and riding around on shiny electric scooter devices. If we have a little more rocketry and shiny clothes come into fashion then pulp sci-fi will be proven correct.
Where's the quantum leap?
on
This is IT?
·
· Score: 1
power system: high-performance, proprietary 24V brushless DC motor with nickel metal hydride batteries
controls: variable speed throttle with regenerative braking action
weight: 19.8 lbs (9 kg) with standard battery pack
maximum speed: 17 mph (27 kph) (governed)
acceleration: 0-12 mph (20 kph) in 5 seconds
range: up to 12 miles (20km) with long-range battery pack;
6 miles (10km) with standard battery pack
hill climbing:
12 mph (20 kph) on 6% grade
8 mph (13 kph) on 9% grade
max hill grade 10%
braking: front lever-actuated friction brake, rear regenerative braking
charging: quick charger standard
maximum rider weight: 300 lbs (136 kg)
It seems better than the Segway in all regards except the balance and coolness factors, and price is less than $1000. Sure, the Segway is cooler, but if existing technology like the Xootr hasn't changed life in the cities, how will the Segway?
I used to vigorously hunt down every spammer who targeted me. Eventually it got too difficult and I had to be more selective - cheap developers and bible software get my goat. (The porn industry is just too big and scary for me.) But recently, I find I rarely have any luck finding someone to complain to. In the old days - i.e. 6 months ago - I could almost always take a glance at the headers and identify an ISP with little more than nslookup. Now I'm finding that I can't see a dialup address in the headers, and that the only intermediate mail servers are in asia. Somehow I doubt that forwarding the span to abuse@fdjjk.cn will yield any results. Has anyone else had the same problem?
I don't know about you, but my DSL doesn't work too well when there's a power outage either. So I wouldn't put that as a big minus in the powerline column.:)
I don't know what the hell Dr Caplan was thinking when he wrote this, but he did a huge disservice to science. The article makes it sound like there was still room for doubt, that "scientific creationism" was a legitimate, competing theory. This is far, far from the truth. So his attempt really serves to legitimize creationism in the eyes of the scientifically uneducated. To adherents of creationism, it must seem like another attempt to scrape together evidence.
I'm not so sure. I have a friend who works for the post office (in Australia as it happens) who said they like it when they get weird stuff or badly addressed mail, because the puzzle or novelty provides a welcome diversion. So maybe they enjoyed some of the less offensive items.
The flaw in this analogy is obvious. Electrical energy is a resource that can be produced in practically limitless amounts, given the right technology. Clean air isn't something we can create (at least, not yet) - it is by definition a lack of pollutants. Therefore, the best way to make more energy is to generate more, the best way to make more clean air is to pollute less.
Of course, energy conservation is important, too; a ban on old refrigerators might be a good idea, it's just not practical to enforce. Cars, on the other hand, have to be individually licensed, so inspecting them for emissions is more than practical.
I find the hatred for environmental legislation that some people exhibit to be profoundly disturbing. Of course I'm pro-capitalist and pro-industry - but people's health and quality of life have to be maintained. This doesn't mean a ban on industry, just the diversion of some resources into minimizing the impact on the air and water.
And since when did anyone have a "right" to drive? By democratic legislation, cars have always had to be roadworthy, safe, and operated by a governmentally licensed driver.
Actually, a friend of mine has a hormone problem which prevents him from being "forced by the sun" to a 24-hour day. He lives according to his own day, and can only sleep when it's night for him. So, on a random day of the year, his midnight might be at any given hour of the day. Often he goes for days without sleep since he has to be up in business hours, which just happens to be when he needs to sleep.
Poor guy. Ain't biology weird?
(For a tiny minority of slashdot readers, yes, it's Andy).
Everyone seems to be bemoaning the death of competition, and predicting the coming Dark Years when Nvidia will monopolize the video card market, force feeding us ever-crappier cards and support as their domination grows secure.
But you're forgetting about the free market that saw 3dfx rise and fall. If Nvidia lets its R&D or support falter, another competitor will spring up. We're talking about open standards to some degree at least. There are plenty of chip makers out there, and a lot of smart engineers too. The video card biz is worth a lot of money, I wouldn't worry about the rest of the world leaving Nvidia alone.
Looks like when it came time for hiring cast members, the budget was a little thin. Fortunately, there were a few dozen second-rate German TV actors ready and rearin' to go.
William Hurt was a poor choice as Leto, he has no "presence" whatsoever. I can't imagine that Leto being "popular" or inspiring loyalty in the most desperate Harkonnen slave. More disappointing is Paul, I can't imagine him leading a Jihad on a thousand worlds. The liberties with the plot (like Irulan showing up on Arrakis!) would be fine, if only there was some feel of character. (Notice too how the fremen reverence for Jessica just appears without Jessica doing or saying anything at all remarkable).
Was anyone else upset that the Sardaukar looked like an aging troupe of gay thespians?
This is silly. How many telephone numbers can you remember? That's why people have palm pilots and address books - to associate NUMBERS with NAMES. If I call my buddy Andy enough times, sure I'll remember the number - just like I know the IP addresses of my ISPs name servers. That's not true for most of the people I need to call from time to time, and not true for the majority of web sites I visit.
Instituting this scheme would without a doubt result in numerous "real names" like services - proprietary name-to-number mapping sites that would be much worse than the current DNS system, which at least is global.
Slashdot Mirror
I came to read these comments because of the respect I have for my fellow slashdot readers, and to read the sarcastic posts about how ignorant Americans are. Instead, I found just the opposite - even slashdot readers defending a belief in UFOs, ESP, etc. I'm frightened. I don't think I would want my kids to go to school in this country.
Please, technically-literate slashdot readers, speak up for science! Mod down the pseudo-scientists!
I asked the pretty smart guy next to me at work how long it takes for the earth to go around the sun. I was asking in order to follow up with "Well, half of americans didn't know that!" but the answer came back as "24 hours". I was amazed. Americans just don't seem to care about such matters.
And look at all the pathetic AdWords ads.
I tried ebay, there were 26 pages at least of herbalife protein bar auctions.
It doesn't talk, it just hums various TV sit-com theme songs.
Insanely useful - Huh? Why would I want to increase the cost of my business cards by a factor of 100, only to give people the ability to call me on a cheap, flimsy, awkward card phone? If you're worried that people won't spend a dime to call you, get a 1-800 number. When I call someone, even if it's a sales rep (which I have to do quite often) I want to do it with my real phone that is comfortable, has hold/mute, etc.
Absolutely. The price is right, the selection is pretty wide, and while there aren't all the big names in pop, that's fine with me; I've gotten to know some really cool, lesser-known artists that I otherwise wouldn't have.
I recommend Emusic to anyone.
I use this service, the speed is great.
I really recommend it if the catalog seems interesting to you. They're mp3s so I can do what I want with them - play on my laptop, mp3 player, burn to CD. Good selection, and sometimes I forget to use the site for a month so they make a nice profit. Too bad pressplay isn't hawking mp3s (as opposed to whatever nonportable secure format), otherwise I'd subscribe.
I have to agree with this. I *do* have an emusic account ($10/month, unlimited leeching) and I download when and where I want, using no client other than my web browser, so no-one is mooching off me and using my bandwidth that would otherwise be devoted to Counterstrike. I can't see the advantage of Napster over Emusic at all, given the portability issues (.nap!?), the finite catalog and the bandwidth-mooching issues.
Really, I wonder how this saga is going to turn out. I'm more than happy to pay for content, like I do when I buy books, CDs, DVDs and my Emusic subscription. But I like to feel like I have some ownership over the media and can watch/listen when I want, how I want. That seems fair to me. Not being able to, say, copy music files to my Laptop or an mp3 player is like having a book that won't open when I take it on a plane!
People probably said that about Aristotle. Wasting his time philosophizing when Greece was going down the tubes - just look at the young people these days. No respect. Lucky people like that only seldom get elected President. :)
OK, perhaps a comparison to the cartoon is more relevant.
Episode 1: The Idea Men
2: Chairface
3: Dinosaur Neil
4: Mr Mental
5: The BreadMaster
6: El Seed
... and so on.
Practically every episode had a humorous villain, which gave every episode focus but made the general "life" problems more funny because of the disconnect between supervillainy and trying to fix the microwave, etc.
NIGH INVULNERABLE!
I'm a big fan of the Tick - the comic book is one of the few I can stand and the cartoon series is pure magic. But the live action show just didn't get its groove going after the pilot. One thing that was missing was the EVIL - most of the episodes spent more time on antics involving dates, sexual misunderstandings, etc, which are fine in their place but not really the best medium for The Tick's histrionics. To really show what the Tick can do, he needs to be yelling "Spoooon!" whilst crushing evil. If he has to overcome some sexual innuendo to do that, so much the better. But as a Seinfeld-like sitcom, the Tick was so lacklustre I actually forgot to watch a couple of episodes.
The cool thing about the video on segway.com is not so much that the people look dorky, but that they look like how people in 1950 or 1960 would have imagined citizens in 2002 - cooking their food in microwave ovens and riding around on shiny electric scooter devices. If we have a little more rocketry and shiny clothes come into fashion then pulp sci-fi will be proven correct.
Compare the Segway with the Xootr eX3:
F LC XNX9GUESR2MN200J74S623X97C8RA&
http://shop.xootr.com/xootr/ex32.asp?shopperid=
power system: high-performance, proprietary 24V brushless DC motor with nickel metal hydride batteries
controls: variable speed throttle with regenerative braking action
weight: 19.8 lbs (9 kg) with standard battery pack
maximum speed: 17 mph (27 kph) (governed)
acceleration: 0-12 mph (20 kph) in 5 seconds
range: up to 12 miles (20km) with long-range battery pack;
6 miles (10km) with standard battery pack
hill climbing:
12 mph (20 kph) on 6% grade
8 mph (13 kph) on 9% grade
max hill grade 10%
braking: front lever-actuated friction brake, rear regenerative braking
charging: quick charger standard
maximum rider weight: 300 lbs (136 kg)
It seems better than the Segway in all regards except the balance and coolness factors, and price is less than $1000. Sure, the Segway is cooler, but if existing technology like the Xootr hasn't changed life in the cities, how will the Segway?
I used to vigorously hunt down every spammer who targeted me. Eventually it got too difficult and I had to be more selective - cheap developers and bible software get my goat. (The porn industry is just too big and scary for me.) But recently, I find I rarely have any luck finding someone to complain to. In the old days - i.e. 6 months ago - I could almost always take a glance at the headers and identify an ISP with little more than nslookup. Now I'm finding that I can't see a dialup address in the headers, and that the only intermediate mail servers are in asia. Somehow I doubt that forwarding the span to abuse@fdjjk.cn will yield any results. Has anyone else had the same problem?
New York = City of God is a hell of a stretch.
Akamai CTO was on one of the planes.
, 00 .html
http://www.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,46710
I don't know about you, but my DSL doesn't work too well when there's a power outage either. So I wouldn't put that as a big minus in the powerline column. :)
I don't know what the hell Dr Caplan was thinking when he wrote this, but he did a huge disservice to science. The article makes it sound like there was still room for doubt, that "scientific creationism" was a legitimate, competing theory. This is far, far from the truth. So his attempt really serves to legitimize creationism in the eyes of the scientifically uneducated. To adherents of creationism, it must seem like another attempt to scrape together evidence.
I'm not so sure. I have a friend who works for the post office (in Australia as it happens) who said they like it when they get weird stuff or badly addressed mail, because the puzzle or novelty provides a welcome diversion. So maybe they enjoyed some of the less offensive items.
The flaw in this analogy is obvious. Electrical energy is a resource that can be produced in practically limitless amounts, given the right technology. Clean air isn't something we can create (at least, not yet) - it is by definition a lack of pollutants. Therefore, the best way to make more energy is to generate more, the best way to make more clean air is to pollute less.
Of course, energy conservation is important, too; a ban on old refrigerators might be a good idea, it's just not practical to enforce. Cars, on the other hand, have to be individually licensed, so inspecting them for emissions is more than practical.
I find the hatred for environmental legislation that some people exhibit to be profoundly disturbing. Of course I'm pro-capitalist and pro-industry - but people's health and quality of life have to be maintained. This doesn't mean a ban on industry, just the diversion of some resources into minimizing the impact on the air and water.
And since when did anyone have a "right" to drive? By democratic legislation, cars have always had to be roadworthy, safe, and operated by a governmentally licensed driver.
Actually, a friend of mine has a hormone problem which prevents him from being "forced by the sun" to a 24-hour day. He lives according to his own day, and can only sleep when it's night for him. So, on a random day of the year, his midnight might be at any given hour of the day. Often he goes for days without sleep since he has to be up in business hours, which just happens to be when he needs to sleep.
Poor guy. Ain't biology weird?
(For a tiny minority of slashdot readers, yes, it's Andy).
Everyone seems to be bemoaning the death of competition, and predicting the coming Dark Years when Nvidia will monopolize the video card market, force feeding us ever-crappier cards and support as their domination grows secure.
But you're forgetting about the free market that saw 3dfx rise and fall. If Nvidia lets its R&D or support falter, another competitor will spring up. We're talking about open standards to some degree at least. There are plenty of chip makers out there, and a lot of smart engineers too. The video card biz is worth a lot of money, I wouldn't worry about the rest of the world leaving Nvidia alone.
Looks like when it came time for hiring cast members, the budget was a little thin. Fortunately, there were a few dozen second-rate German TV actors ready and rearin' to go.
William Hurt was a poor choice as Leto, he has no "presence" whatsoever. I can't imagine that Leto being "popular" or inspiring loyalty in the most desperate Harkonnen slave. More disappointing is Paul, I can't imagine him leading a Jihad on a thousand worlds. The liberties with the plot (like Irulan showing up on Arrakis!) would be fine, if only there was some feel of character. (Notice too how the fremen reverence for Jessica just appears without Jessica doing or saying anything at all remarkable).
Was anyone else upset that the Sardaukar looked like an aging troupe of gay thespians?
BTW, it's spelled "Dr. Yueh".
This is silly. How many telephone numbers can you remember? That's why people have palm pilots and address books - to associate NUMBERS with NAMES. If I call my buddy Andy enough times, sure I'll remember the number - just like I know the IP addresses of my ISPs name servers. That's not true for most of the people I need to call from time to time, and not true for the majority of web sites I visit.
Instituting this scheme would without a doubt result in numerous "real names" like services - proprietary name-to-number mapping sites that would be much worse than the current DNS system, which at least is global.