The problem with something this tall is that it will inevitably be destroyed, and we will be scattered throughout the earth and forced to speak different languages.
Or it will just get blown up/flown into/cut down by terrorists.
There are already organizations that will safely recycle (or even better, refurbish for lower incomes) your old computers (http://www.accrc.org comes to mind for those in cali, us).
Well these guys charge a disposal fee of $10 or so, in addition to the fact that one must pay shipping to send it there (you know how much it cost to ship a monitor? not fun).
So until companies start offering free shipping and recycling its going in the trash. I wouldn't mind paying a little more upfront if they did the recycling, but I'm not going to pay out the nose later to recycle a broken piece of junk. I'm all for the environment but not at $50 a pop.
The ogg vorbis codec (even with the new integer implementation) is so CPU intensive that it does not fit into anything smaller than a 75MHZ ARM processor, and even then it's a squeeze. This means that despite all the merits of this format, it is not currently possible for manufacturers of inexpensive playback devices to support the format.
I don't know if it helps or not but there has been a lot of optimization since Tremor has been released. You may find it runs much faster now. You may want to review the list archives.
First, what's the difference between treating and curing a disease? Last time I checked the only way to "Treat" a virus is to kill it or disable it. Infections? Try antibiotics (they ALL cure infections). Bacteria? Again, can't treat without curing.
A good example is the common cold or influenza. The medicine you get simply masks the symptoms (antihistamine) rather than attacking the virus. Sure you got TamiFlu and the like but even then it only knocks a day or two off.
Other than antibiotics I doubt there are a whole lot of medicines that actually "cure" the disease rather than to simply contain it or mask it. (I am sure there are some but I am saying in general)
When is the last time that drug companies actually came up with a cure
I was just thinking about this the other week...how the vast majority that modern medicine offers simply treats the symptoms (or masks them) and does little to "solve" anything. As soon as you stop taking the medicine you're right back where you are. I know there is stuff that doesn't fit this pattern (antibiotics) but by and far medicine just doesn't cure anything.
Now perhaps this is due to our own limitations in knowledge and understanding. I doubt it has a whole lot to do with the bottom line (ie don't cure them...keep them on medicine for a steady cash flow). I mean, if a company offered a cure and charged outrageous prices for it, I'm sure most people would pay for a permanent cure.
Hmm... conflict of interest? Optometrists are largely in danger of becoming an obsolete species thanks to vision correction surgery. I detect some possible bias here. Mild trauma is NOT going to open up the cut, any more than mild trauma is likely to rebreak a formerly broken bone, any more than mild trauma is likely to open a cut that healed on your skin years ago. LASIK is fairly prevalent now, and I've NEVER heard of a single case of the corneal flap avulsing, let alone see one (and I see lots of bad car accidents every day, none of which complain of vision loss without other severe trauma to the eye, i.e. denucleations, hyphemas, etc.).
I agree...I studied this before I had my surgery. Essentially the more time that goes by, the more "cemented" the flap becomes. You'll always have a scar but after a certain amount of time it's not coming back up. For example, I had a 2nd enhancement surgery about a year later and they had to recut the flap. Also, after surgery there are many follow-ups to ensure the flap is down properly and healing. I'm not sure how this "researcher" can say they never heal properly.
These are our eyes we're talking about! You get only one chance. If laser surgery destroys your vision, you don't get another chance. That's it. Game over.
Actually a lot of the problems can be corrected with additional surgery. But there are still a number of complications they can't fix. It's not without its risk. Although for me (being legally blind), it was well worth the risk.
The only thing the doctor does (at least in my op) by hand is the cutting and pulling back of the cornea (which is *very* freaky, by the way), and keeping track of the lasers progress (keeping a finger on the panic-off button for the laser if you move too far).
Of course the doctor has to put it all in the computer right. When they measured my vision at their office it was way different than my historical record at my optometrist. So my surgeon made an educated guess, and it came out 20/15. So I'm glad they have surgeons/doctors doing it rather than some mindless drone clicking a "run" button
Can someone explain what the numbers mean? Everyone seems to be saying their 2 numbers and my prescription has 6 numbers on the card...
I know eyeglass prescriptions are completely different than contact lens prescriptions. But assuming you have contact lens prescription...OD is right eye, OS is left eye. Sphere is power of the lens, Cylinder is power of astigmatism correction, Axis is the alignment of the lens, and then for the actual fit you have curve (curvature of the lens) and diameter.
So your six numbers are most likely sphere, curve, and diameter - for each eye.
I went in for the surgery on an afternoon. I had both eyes done on that day. I basically sat in this chair and focused on a little red light. They put some numbing drops in my eyes and then lowered this eyeball sized tubish thing over my eye. It basically sucked onto and grabbed hold of my eye, then a blade comes out of that to slice a thin layer of the cornea. The surgeon then lifts up that layer and the world goes super foggy. I focused as best I could on the red light (with the sucker thing on my eye, I couldn't have moved it anyway). And they basically fired a laser at my eye for 50 seconds or so. Then they flipped the cornea layer back over my eye and the world became clear. They then did the same process for the other eye. It did not hurt in any way during the process.
So I don't know about your surgery, but at mine it had to be the brightest light I have ever seen in my life...and of course you can't close your eyes. That was a bit unpleasant but other than that not too bad.
Hence, if you have laser eye surgery, your corrected vision will (barring complications), be fine during the day or when in a brightly lit area, but vision may be worse than pre-correction at night. Doesn't sound too bad, unless you drive at night...
The potential for decreased night vision is there but it is not a guaranteed fact (as you seem to imply). I've had two laser surgeries (first gave me 20/15, then after my eyes had healed I had a enhancement and gave me 20/20 again). Now I have no problems at all seeing at night, or actually at any other time. I do have slight astigmatism, but I had it 10 times worse before my surgery.
Hey moron, since when are people forced to watch a movie they don't want to watch?
He was specifically referring to personal editing. The original poster said nobody is preventing the customer from editing it theirselves, and the reply was that it would defeat the purpose if the customer had to watch it first (to edit it out). Maybe you should read instead of insulting people?
Re:Pretty cool offerings
on
New MP3 Portables
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· Score: 3, Informative
Still not as cool as the Mp3 Player in my car [carplayer.com]. It even supports.ogg!
Personally I prefer the PhatNoise PhatBox. Supports MP3, FLAC, Windows Media, Audible, and soon to support Ogg (available in alpha test now). It comes in either 20 GB or 40 GB carts and interfaces with a bunch of head units. Also the Kenwood Audio Keg is the same thing (licensed PhatNoise). It uses 10 GB carts and works only with Kenwood Headunits (I got an Audio Keg myself). There are a lot of cool features including m3u playlists and text-to-speech technology to announce the name of each playlist.
Being the first edition, it does have some quirks to iron out which I have forwarded to the author. For example, it may talk about one alias to a function but not another, which would be helpful for Perl programmers and the like (for example, split is an alias to explode and join is an alias for implode). There were also a few issues with some of the functions in the book where they mixed up the argument order. Also I felt they didn't put near enough time into optimization, whereas the Perl book spends quite a few pages discussing it (I think the PHP one maybe had one page on it). There were some small things they skipped over which could make a difference in huge projects (when to use "" and when to use '') and whether to do print "$a$b$c" or print $a,$b,$c or print $a.$b.$c, etc. But overall this *is* the best PHP book I have read and I do look forward to their next edition.
That being said: "Firware upgradable and can support future formats" is getting really old from all digital music players. I can honestly say that I have seen over 20 players (CD, CF, HD) that proudly make this claim in their marketing jargain -- yet guess how many have came through??? It's about like me saying that my cars tires will support the ferrari. Yet, technically it could happen -- but more realistically those tires will spend their lifetime on my 87 nissan sentra.
Well its a car player, but the PhatNoise Phatbox and Kenwood Audio Keg have done this. They've already added FLAX and Audible support and Ogg Vorbis support is in alpha test (freely downloadable for those who wish to try it out)
I've been looking strictly at car players. It looks like the only one close is the PhatNoise (and the Kenwood AudioKeg). It already supports WAV, MP3, WMA, FLAK, and Audible.com so it looks like a minor issue for them to add OGG later (it supports firmware too). Also possibly SSI America NEO. And I have no idea but if they are flashable perhaps Rockford Fosgate RFXMP3.8 or Blaupunkt MDP-01. I've written all of the above to see what their plans are. Nothing else even looks capable of ever doing OGG (ie Alpine, Sony, etc.)
Ah, but this still doesn't prove anything. I mean, you can find the same thing in a lot of religions, such as the Romans, Mayan, Islamic and quite a bit of others. If all of these religions, including Christianity, point to a book as fact simply because people believed in it there and then, why is Christianity the religion I should believe in?
After all, the Egyptians thought that the Pharaoh was the son of the hawk god Horus, and they believed this while the Pharaoh was still alive. And guess what, they wrote this down in Holy Writings(TM)! So, should I believe in their religion as much as Christianity?
Well one thing I would point to is the miracles of Jesus, but another one would be the personal experiences of believers. Also note that Christianity is a volunteer religion. You choose to believe it. You don't have pharaoh threatening to cut off your head if you don't believe he is God, etc.
You trivialize the concept of omnipotence if you say this. I can say that i am omnipotent and can do god-like things if i choose to, but i choose not to because those things are not in my nature. Surely something else is meant by the word "omnipotent".
Here's what the dictionary says: "Having unlimited or universal power, authority, or force; all-powerful.". Now in that definition, to say an omnipotent God can't do something seems like making him impotent:)
If it was sustained by God, then why is Adam and Eve's curse so much more powerful than him? Certainly God must be powerful enough to mold the world into whatever shape he desires. However, humanity now suffers for the sins of two people, so either God let it happen, or God was powerless to prevent it. If he was powerless to prevent it, then he's not all-powerful, and isn't much of a god. If he let it happen, then he's just a bastard.
I think its less about punishing us and more about molding us and helping us grow, so we don't turn into a bunch of spoiled selfish brats. Once we are perfected then we spend eternity in paradise. I think I can suffer a few years for that.
No, it's not just. It is merciful. It would be just to condemn us for our sin, but fortunately He is Merciful.
Well its still just in the fact that *someone* had to receive punishment, and the Lord took it upon himself to satisfy that. But in a bigger sense yes he is merciful, or better yet, loving.
So, if I fail to ask him, he turns his back on me. This is justice? Justice means doing whats right. Whats fair. It is not fair that a murderer who repents goes to heaven, but a saint who doesn't know jesus goes to hell. And what is the point of punishing someone for misbehaving, with no "Your cured mate" or "here's time off for good behaviour." What exactly is the point? Is God sadistic? Is he happy knowing that he torturing billions of souls for all eternity? What about people who never misbehaved? Do they go to heaven, even if they don't know christ?
Well first off he never turns his back...he says he is always there (you know...if he knocks let him in and he will share a meal with you, etc.). Now once you go to the next life then eventually justice will have to be served. But I don't think he tortures people and he certainly doesn't enjoy it (he is love and he doesn't want anyone to perish). Rather, he is pure and holy and someone who is not cannot spend eternity with him. Or better yet, he honors a person's will. If they have rejected him then he will honor that by them being seperated from him for eternity. And lastly, we are told we have all sinned and fallen short of God's glory. Nobody is innocent or never misbehaved. At least nobody I've ever known.
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Or it will just get blown up/flown into/cut down by terrorists.
Well these guys charge a disposal fee of $10 or so, in addition to the fact that one must pay shipping to send it there (you know how much it cost to ship a monitor? not fun).
So until companies start offering free shipping and recycling its going in the trash. I wouldn't mind paying a little more upfront if they did the recycling, but I'm not going to pay out the nose later to recycle a broken piece of junk. I'm all for the environment but not at $50 a pop.
I don't know if it helps or not but there has been a lot of optimization since Tremor has been released. You may find it runs much faster now. You may want to review the list archives.
A good example is the common cold or influenza. The medicine you get simply masks the symptoms (antihistamine) rather than attacking the virus. Sure you got TamiFlu and the like but even then it only knocks a day or two off.
Other than antibiotics I doubt there are a whole lot of medicines that actually "cure" the disease rather than to simply contain it or mask it. (I am sure there are some but I am saying in general)
To elaborate on my previous comment...I'm not too worried about us ever curing every disease on the planet...its near impossible
That is assuming they find any
I was just thinking about this the other week...how the vast majority that modern medicine offers simply treats the symptoms (or masks them) and does little to "solve" anything. As soon as you stop taking the medicine you're right back where you are. I know there is stuff that doesn't fit this pattern (antibiotics) but by and far medicine just doesn't cure anything.
Now perhaps this is due to our own limitations in knowledge and understanding. I doubt it has a whole lot to do with the bottom line (ie don't cure them...keep them on medicine for a steady cash flow). I mean, if a company offered a cure and charged outrageous prices for it, I'm sure most people would pay for a permanent cure.
I agree...I studied this before I had my surgery. Essentially the more time that goes by, the more "cemented" the flap becomes. You'll always have a scar but after a certain amount of time it's not coming back up. For example, I had a 2nd enhancement surgery about a year later and they had to recut the flap. Also, after surgery there are many follow-ups to ensure the flap is down properly and healing. I'm not sure how this "researcher" can say they never heal properly.
Actually a lot of the problems can be corrected with additional surgery. But there are still a number of complications they can't fix. It's not without its risk. Although for me (being legally blind), it was well worth the risk.
Of course the doctor has to put it all in the computer right. When they measured my vision at their office it was way different than my historical record at my optometrist. So my surgeon made an educated guess, and it came out 20/15. So I'm glad they have surgeons/doctors doing it rather than some mindless drone clicking a "run" button
I know eyeglass prescriptions are completely different than contact lens prescriptions. But assuming you have contact lens prescription...OD is right eye, OS is left eye. Sphere is power of the lens, Cylinder is power of astigmatism correction, Axis is the alignment of the lens, and then for the actual fit you have curve (curvature of the lens) and diameter.
So your six numbers are most likely sphere, curve, and diameter - for each eye.
So I don't know about your surgery, but at mine it had to be the brightest light I have ever seen in my life...and of course you can't close your eyes. That was a bit unpleasant but other than that not too bad.
The potential for decreased night vision is there but it is not a guaranteed fact (as you seem to imply). I've had two laser surgeries (first gave me 20/15, then after my eyes had healed I had a enhancement and gave me 20/20 again). Now I have no problems at all seeing at night, or actually at any other time. I do have slight astigmatism, but I had it 10 times worse before my surgery.
And then they sat on their hands for a year while all their competitors lept past them.
He was specifically referring to personal editing. The original poster said nobody is preventing the customer from editing it theirselves, and the reply was that it would defeat the purpose if the customer had to watch it first (to edit it out). Maybe you should read instead of insulting people?
Personally I prefer the PhatNoise PhatBox. Supports MP3, FLAC, Windows Media, Audible, and soon to support Ogg (available in alpha test now). It comes in either 20 GB or 40 GB carts and interfaces with a bunch of head units. Also the Kenwood Audio Keg is the same thing (licensed PhatNoise). It uses 10 GB carts and works only with Kenwood Headunits (I got an Audio Keg myself). There are a lot of cool features including m3u playlists and text-to-speech technology to announce the name of each playlist.
Ah I learn something new everyday. Coming from a Perl background I almost always use split by default, which works on expressions.
Being the first edition, it does have some quirks to iron out which I have forwarded to the author. For example, it may talk about one alias to a function but not another, which would be helpful for Perl programmers and the like (for example, split is an alias to explode and join is an alias for implode). There were also a few issues with some of the functions in the book where they mixed up the argument order. Also I felt they didn't put near enough time into optimization, whereas the Perl book spends quite a few pages discussing it (I think the PHP one maybe had one page on it). There were some small things they skipped over which could make a difference in huge projects (when to use "" and when to use '') and whether to do print "$a$b$c" or print $a,$b,$c or print $a.$b.$c, etc. But overall this *is* the best PHP book I have read and I do look forward to their next edition.
Well its a car player, but the PhatNoise Phatbox and Kenwood Audio Keg have done this. They've already added FLAX and Audible support and Ogg Vorbis support is in alpha test (freely downloadable for those who wish to try it out)
I've been looking strictly at car players. It looks like the only one close is the PhatNoise (and the Kenwood AudioKeg). It already supports WAV, MP3, WMA, FLAK, and Audible.com so it looks like a minor issue for them to add OGG later (it supports firmware too). Also possibly SSI America NEO. And I have no idea but if they are flashable perhaps Rockford Fosgate RFXMP3.8 or Blaupunkt MDP-01. I've written all of the above to see what their plans are. Nothing else even looks capable of ever doing OGG (ie Alpine, Sony, etc.)
If all of these religions, including Christianity, point to a book as fact simply because people believed in it there and then, why is Christianity the religion I should believe in?
After all, the Egyptians thought that the Pharaoh was the son of the hawk god Horus, and they believed this while the Pharaoh was still alive. And guess what, they wrote this down in Holy Writings(TM)! So, should I believe in their religion as much as Christianity?
Well one thing I would point to is the miracles of Jesus, but another one would be the personal experiences of believers. Also note that Christianity is a volunteer religion. You choose to believe it. You don't have pharaoh threatening to cut off your head if you don't believe he is God, etc.
Here's what the dictionary says: "Having unlimited or universal power, authority, or force; all-powerful.". Now in that definition, to say an omnipotent God can't do something seems like making him impotent :)
I think its less about punishing us and more about molding us and helping us grow, so we don't turn into a bunch of spoiled selfish brats. Once we are perfected then we spend eternity in paradise. I think I can suffer a few years for that.
No, it's not just.
It is merciful.
It would be just to condemn us for our sin, but fortunately He is Merciful.
Well its still just in the fact that *someone* had to receive punishment, and the Lord took it upon himself to satisfy that. But in a bigger sense yes he is merciful, or better yet, loving.
Well first off he never turns his back...he says he is always there (you know...if he knocks let him in and he will share a meal with you, etc.). Now once you go to the next life then eventually justice will have to be served. But I don't think he tortures people and he certainly doesn't enjoy it (he is love and he doesn't want anyone to perish). Rather, he is pure and holy and someone who is not cannot spend eternity with him. Or better yet, he honors a person's will. If they have rejected him then he will honor that by them being seperated from him for eternity. And lastly, we are told we have all sinned and fallen short of God's glory. Nobody is innocent or never misbehaved. At least nobody I've ever known.