It's worth noting that such weapons systems ARE "loss effects multipliers" because they are so few.
They rely on generating many sorties (sorties are the purpose of combat aircraft) and when you lose ONE "Death Star" you lose a lot more than if you lose a less-expenseive, much more common fighter.
Our fighters are also most of our ground attack aircraft. Fewer airframes means less ordnance delivered downrange, even if it is very precise ordnance.
Life is full of tradeoffs, but since the purpose of an airframe is to deliver munitions, making the munitions smart enough to deliver themselves is preferable.
I'm a mechanic and welder, and help out truck mech buds now and then:
Many truckers don't give a fuck about anything but getting whatever junk trailer is inflicted on them by the fleet owner to the destination without getting busted.
Poor truck and trailer fleet maintenance is common.
The only answer is imposed discipline, meaning more DOT inspections and fines.
When you see a "gator" (tire strip left by a failure) on the road, it's not necessarily a retread failure.
Underinflation can and does cause casing separation failure "original treaded" truck and car tires, which can leave "gators" often attributed to retread separation.
No idea should be safe from ATTACK, because otherwise demanding what that ideas proponents CHOOSE to DEFINE as "respect" is demanding CENSORSHIP of criticism.
Want respect? Earn it.
Political beliefs don't merit special protection from "insult", so why should Superstition?
Works for me, but most Windows users I know only consider AV when their PC stops working.
Keeps me in pocket money and free stuff. I was given a nice, clean 2008 Dell Inspiron today. Owner hated Vista, didn't even ask me about loading anything different. PC are cheap enough to shitcan when they don't work properly.
There is no OTHER way to sell used helium cylinders unless you know a welder who uses pure helium or connects helium cylinders to their own gas mixer. Mixers are rare and most welders default to ordering standard mixes.
It's easy enough to take with a full schedule. I'm taking the same course online as it's required. (I need 13 credit hours minimum to collect full G.I.Bill stipend.)
The main annoyance is learning the SAM 2010 environment since it accepts a specific set of answers though there are obviously many ways to use Office.
Learn the SAM "style" and to use D2L if your school uses it then exploit the easy course.
"but the point of most "intro to computers" courses at this point is to prepare people to use basic productivity software to complete the rest of their coursework."
...communicate with other Windows PC using Microsoft Office. That sucks but it's the truth. Teaching anything different to MOST students wouldn't be productive use of THEIR time.
That lovely Cengage book with the expensive SAM code and annoying "read the book do book exercises do SAM 2010 exercises then test" could have been reduced to a less-profitable DVD and SAM 2010 access for tests only, but such is life.
Take the course online, get the credit, move on with life. Student aid is paying my way so a fuck I do not give. Office 2010 and Windows 7 run fine in Virtualbox (if you want audio on a Linux host use a 64-bit host with appropriate Virtualbox version) so no problem.
"And now I cant even get my kid a ballon for their birthday?"
Not the balloon, the filler gas.
As a kid I had plenty of balloons, with no expectation they'd be filled with helium. I even inflated most of them myself the old fashioned way, with lung power. It was "fun". Yes, I'm ancient.
Helium makes possible the rest of the "nice lifestyle" you want because it's vital to welding, and we live in a "welded" world. It's amusing that the biggest public concern with the helium shortage is balloons. When the price goes up, so does the price of welding gas mixtures using it (as well as pure helium used in a smaller subset of welding).
Eventually, distros like Debian will be good enough for ordinary users that transititional "training wheels" distros will be less needed.
Let's not forget that Mandrake, Corel, and their successors existed because of shortcomings of "purist" distros from the perspective of users who wanted to Get Shit Done.
Decorative balloons are pure waste, from plastic to filler gas.
Helium is vital for welding in pure and mixed-gas processes, for example. Welding is far more important even than medical uses.
The solution is to attack the idiotic custom of party balloons, or fill 'em with compressed air then hang them in place.
One bright spot is that commercial gas providers often deny helium to non-industrial customers due to the shortage.
(Keep an eye out for full or partially full helium cylinders on Craigslist . I've bought 'em cheap then sold the contents to desperate gift shops then exchanged the empty cylinders for argon and mixed gas for my welders and made money doing it.)
I want it without strings attached, or with strings so easy to CUT that I can do that while SOMEONE ELSE pays for my FREE STUFF.
For example, I use free webmail accounts, but interact with them using Thunderbird (Linux) and Thunderbird Portable (Windows).
No annoying Yahoo or Gmail web pages or content. My messages and contacts are archived offline so if either provider dies I can just add a new one and move seemlessly forward.
Hard-copy example: Junk mail funds the Post Office. I can throw it away. Beats paying more for postage.
" I use Windows, but it irritates me that I can't buy a Windows Laptop today without first uninstalling half of the useless AdWare/TrialWare/CrapWare/ETC that vendors stick on it."
I'll do what's convenient for me because it's all about me.
In your Windows use case, a clean install promptly finds its way onto my machine and not a single fuck is given.
I understand their need to make a buck, but they can do that off the "slowest zebra".
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It's worth noting that such weapons systems ARE "loss effects multipliers" because they are so few.
They rely on generating many sorties (sorties are the purpose of combat aircraft) and when you lose ONE "Death Star" you lose a lot more than if you lose a less-expenseive, much more common fighter.
Our fighters are also most of our ground attack aircraft. Fewer airframes means less ordnance delivered downrange, even if it is very precise ordnance.
Life is full of tradeoffs, but since the purpose of an airframe is to deliver munitions, making the munitions smart enough to deliver themselves is preferable.
"The border patrol people want something more like existing combat UAVs, with lots of range and good sensors."
The Border Patrol should be a military mission anyway, if the idea is to stop intrusion.
The "artists" who insist on wanking with gaudy UI trifles need to be LARTed into weeping pulps.
They don't care about users. At all.
"Unless I have a machine with 8gb of usable ram"
2003 Server can be used as a desktop.
I'm a mechanic and welder, and help out truck mech buds now and then:
Many truckers don't give a fuck about anything but getting whatever junk trailer is inflicted on them by the fleet owner to the destination without getting busted.
Poor truck and trailer fleet maintenance is common.
The only answer is imposed discipline, meaning more DOT inspections and fines.
When you see a "gator" (tire strip left by a failure) on the road, it's not necessarily a retread failure.
Underinflation can and does cause casing separation failure "original treaded" truck and car tires, which can leave "gators" often attributed to retread separation.
NO.
No idea should be safe from ATTACK, because otherwise demanding what that ideas proponents CHOOSE to DEFINE as "respect" is demanding CENSORSHIP of criticism.
Want respect? Earn it.
Political beliefs don't merit special protection from "insult", so why should Superstition?
Depends on the high school. Many have no resources and it shows.
For example, near me we have a basic machine shop program with so little funding they often practice on WOOD, plastic, and wax.
This is in South Carolina.
Their future is a pneumatic bolt through the gourd on their way to becoming my next Big Mac.
Works for me, but most Windows users I know only consider AV when their PC stops working.
Keeps me in pocket money and free stuff. I was given a nice, clean 2008 Dell Inspiron today. Owner hated Vista, didn't even ask me about loading anything different. PC are cheap enough to shitcan when they don't work properly.
We should burn sweet, sweet coal instead and have No Consequences.
There is no OTHER way to sell used helium cylinders unless you know a welder who uses pure helium or connects helium cylinders to their own gas mixer. Mixers are rare and most welders default to ordering standard mixes.
I did my homework, Anonymous Cretin. :)
It's easy enough to take with a full schedule. I'm taking the same course online as it's required. (I need 13 credit hours minimum to collect full G.I.Bill stipend.)
The main annoyance is learning the SAM 2010 environment since it accepts a specific set of answers though there are obviously many ways to use Office.
Learn the SAM "style" and to use D2L if your school uses it then exploit the easy course.
"but the point of most "intro to computers" courses at this point is to prepare people to use basic productivity software to complete the rest of their coursework."
Bingo! We have an Insightful winner.
...communicate with other Windows PC using Microsoft Office.
That sucks but it's the truth. Teaching anything different to MOST students wouldn't be productive use of THEIR time.
That lovely Cengage book with the expensive SAM code and annoying "read the book do book exercises do SAM 2010 exercises then test" could have been reduced to a less-profitable DVD and SAM 2010 access for tests only, but such is life.
Take the course online, get the credit, move on with life. Student aid is paying my way so a fuck I do not give. Office 2010 and Windows 7 run fine in Virtualbox (if you want audio on a Linux host use a 64-bit host with appropriate Virtualbox version) so no problem.
"And now I cant even get my kid a ballon for their birthday?"
Not the balloon, the filler gas.
As a kid I had plenty of balloons, with no expectation they'd be filled with helium. I even inflated most of them myself the old fashioned way, with lung power. It was "fun". Yes, I'm ancient.
Helium makes possible the rest of the "nice lifestyle" you want because it's vital to welding, and we live in a "welded" world. It's amusing that the biggest public concern with the helium shortage is balloons. When the price goes up, so does the price of welding gas mixtures using it (as well as pure helium used in a smaller subset of welding).
" The amount used in balloons is miniscule and doesn't matter either way."
It certainly matters to Airgas and other commercial gas vendors, hence their sales policies.
Eventually, distros like Debian will be good enough for ordinary users that transititional "training wheels" distros will be less needed.
Let's not forget that Mandrake, Corel, and their successors existed because of shortcomings of "purist" distros from the perspective of users who wanted to Get Shit Done.
When no one needs Ubuntu, it will go away.
"On Ubuntu, every user is smart, skilled, and infinitely patient. It's paradise, really."
On Linux, every user has access to the hive mind where answers like the one you posted are readily available.
"Our energy supply is finite,"
If you mean "the sun", yes, but that will take a while. Some of our Currently More Convenient supplies are finite.
Decorative balloons are pure waste, from plastic to filler gas.
Helium is vital for welding in pure and mixed-gas processes, for example. Welding is far more important even than medical uses.
The solution is to attack the idiotic custom of party balloons, or fill 'em with compressed air then hang them in place.
One bright spot is that commercial gas providers often deny helium to non-industrial customers due to the shortage.
(Keep an eye out for full or partially full helium cylinders on Craigslist . I've bought 'em cheap then sold the contents to desperate gift shops then exchanged the empty cylinders for argon and mixed gas for my welders and made money doing it.)
I don't know about you, but I WANT FREE STUFF.
I want it without strings attached, or with strings so easy to CUT that I can do that while SOMEONE ELSE pays for my FREE STUFF.
For example, I use free webmail accounts, but interact with them using Thunderbird (Linux) and Thunderbird Portable (Windows).
No annoying Yahoo or Gmail web pages or content. My messages and contacts are archived offline so if either provider dies I can just add a new one and move seemlessly forward.
Hard-copy example:
Junk mail funds the Post Office. I can throw it away. Beats paying more for postage.
" I use Windows, but it irritates me that I can't buy a Windows Laptop today without first uninstalling half of the useless AdWare/TrialWare/CrapWare/ETC that vendors stick on it."
I'll do what's convenient for me because it's all about me.
In your Windows use case, a clean install promptly finds its way onto my machine and not a single fuck is given.
I understand their need to make a buck, but they can do that off the "slowest zebra".
So try different window managers.
Switching distros to change window managers is like scrapping your car instead of changing the oil!
Blocking adverts is trivial. Hosts file, anyone?
Why should you see any adverts?
Block or disable them. End of story.