I'm already paranoid enough about the black helicopters that keep circling me everywhere I go, now I have to worry about inhaling nano black helicopters.
Since the asterik is usually used for a string of characters in a wildcard situation, it would probably be preferable to use a question mark, no? Otherwise, the poll options could be misconstrued as anything from "Fiddleback" to "Clerihewboy Neal."
The Canadian infrastructure is a bit bigger than Sweden. It is the second largest country in the world, after all, which means a lot more wiring and what not.
Broadband is going to be big in Canada. Big. The federal government announced last month (via the Ministry of Industry) that all communities would have access to broadband Internet by the year 2004. The initiative is called Connecting Canadians.
A good press release, issued last month, can be found at here .
Definitely something I want to see progress, although if the CRTC gets into it too deeply, things will probably go awry.
You're right in one instance. The Bay of Fundy plant produces 18-20 megawatts, not gigawatts, my mistake. But the figure on worldwide tidal power is correct, 3000 gigawatts. However, after various constraints and physical mumbo jumbo, only 60 gigawatts can actually be used for something useful.
Some interesting links I found while checking my figures:
Indeed. The Bay of Fundy (yes, you nailed the spelling), which lies between Nova Scotia and New Brunswick (near Maine, for the Canadian geographically-challenged) is home to the highest tides in the world. Some 100 billion tons of water is pumped in and out of the Bay twice a day, every day. It is also the home of the only tidal energy plant in the Western hemisphere.
The Bay of Fundy does produce energy at the Annapolis Royal energy plant, but it only amounts to about 18-20 gigawatts, which equals out to about 1% of Nova Scotia's entire energy use. (Not a lot, in other words.) At last check, it is believed that some 3000 gigawatts of electricity could be produced worldwide through tidal power.
The main problem with tidal power though is that it requires a great difference between high and low tides, at least a 5 m difference. (The Bay of Fundy's high/low tide difference is 17 m.) There aren't too many places around the world with those kinds of tides. Plus, there's the downside that the energy can only be gathered every 12 hours because of the tides.
On the other hand, there are tons of places with waves. Hell, most of the planet is covered with water, so that makes for a lot of beaches. From what I've read, the technology is rather different from the tidal energy used at the Bay. (But then again, IANA hydroelectric expert.)
Since I'm a Nova Scotian, for some reason I know this stuff. Damn Nova Scotian Bay of Fundy propaganda.
I for one, as I'm sure many people on this site, am against censorship in any fashion. Censorship discourages freedom. Hell, it's practically the exact opposite of freedom.
That aside, I'd like to know the rationale behind some of the things that are on this censored list. Just what is so offensive about www.freedom.net? According to SmartFilter, freedom.net is a sex-filled, illegally drugged, criminal teaching, worthless, sports-related occult site that gambles. How on earth did this site get into all of these ridiculous categories? I've looked at the site and it definitely does not call into any of those categories.
And what's the deal with the beloved babelfish being censored? Could somebody possibly explain that to me in a sensible, logical kind of way? I guess not only censoring web sites is enough, they actually have to censor languages or something.
All universal moral principles are idle fantasies, indeed. But what the hell is so immoral or wrong about poor babelfish?
I'm no expert, but I would imagine that it's easier to organize all of these domains if they're sort of categorized like the way they are now. Otherwise, if everybody got their own special TLD, it would be kind of like AOL or something, where every page or site or whatever they call them over there gets an AOL keyword.
Also, for every new TLD that comes out, Big Business has to procure all permutations of their trademarks to protect their property. Now Coca Cola, Nike, Microsoft et al. will have to go out and register microsoft.biz, coke.info, nike.museum and such.
Could you imagine the headaches businesses and ICANN would have if suddenly 500 new TLDs came out, like.company,.tech or.something-else? Big Businesses already make a big deal out of capturing all of the URLs with their names in them as it is. They'd go nuts if there were unlimited TLDs.
Of course, that's just my opinion, yadda yadda yadda.
Oh, please forgive me, yer highness, for not pronouncing the Sacred Plural of Lego correctly.
Now let me go on a tangent here and offer you a tip -- not everyone who reads and posts on Slashdot is an American. I, for one, am not. As shocking as it may seem, I'm Canadian.
Now, I'm sure you'll reply with something as remarkably witty as your last anonymous post, undoubtedly with something like, "I hope you die sooner, then, Mr. Canadian" or whatever. Or maybe point out that instead of "your" I used "yer" in the first sentence of this post.
Please don't disappoint. I've come to expect so much out of Anonymous Cowards.
Activision has already done this. They've released at least one (possibly a few more while I wasn't paying attention) on the Playstation. I rented it once at Blockbuster and it brought back many fine memories of River Raid, Barnstorming and Hero. In fact, the memories were so fond, I later downloaded the ROMs for an Atari 2600 emulator.
PCs have had analog controls for years, and I believe that you could consider those rotating paddle things for Breakout and whatnot on the Atari 2600 could be considered analog.
SETI@Home. Or that new one for decoding genes or whatever. What's more important, knowing yet another binary digit in pi or knowing whether or not intelligent life exists outside of earth, or what genes turn off cancer?
And "real" games aren't the least bit redundant? How many times do you need to slide down a snake or climb a ladder until it becomes boring? How many times must I Pass Go and collect $200 before I want to implode my own head? And don't even get me started on Sorry!
And what's a more laughable obsession? Playing computer games, or being so obsessed with making fun of people who play video games that you actually go far out of your own way to do so?
J
Just don't phrase it like that.
on
Patent Warfare
·
· Score: 3
Apply for something more along the lines of
"A device which circumvents the dampening of the upper layers of the epidermis and garments during periods of precipitation."
Since everyone's pointing out that, yes, there have been good launch games, I guess I'll concede and say, yes, there have been a few. Very few. Maybe one, maybe two in a single console launch.
I was speaking a bit too generally, I guess.
But speaking relatively, as the system matures, so do the games. As the programmers and designers learn how to get the most out of the console, the games increase in quality dramatically over their first gen predecessors.
The NES had a wicked game at launch -- Super Mario Bros. The rest were all pretty much crap, at least compared to the system's twilight years. Gyromite, Duck Hunt, 10 Yard Fight... how much did they lick compared to Super Mario Bros. 3, >= Mega Man 4 and Bionic Commando?
Load your NLMs by selecting weapons. Kill user connections by blasting marine zombies. Run DSREPAIR by destroying the Cyberdemon.
It would be like that Jurassic Park scene where the mad haX0r kid runs the park through a virtual reality environment only with much more blood and Spider Masterminds.
Not on any one game, no. I don't doubt that they've spent a hella lot of money on the PS2's launch, but I doubt they've spent as much on any single game as Nintendo put behind Mario 64. (I 99% sure that $40 million figure is correct, but dammit, I can't find my source. I think it was in an old Next Generation magazine...)
Slashdot Mirror
I'm already paranoid enough about the black helicopters that keep circling me everywhere I go, now I have to worry about inhaling nano black helicopters.
Please stop the insanity.
J
... will it electrocute anybody who it doesn't know as a security measure, just like that another *chu we all despise.
J
Since the asterik is usually used for a string of characters in a wildcard situation, it would probably be preferable to use a question mark, no? Otherwise, the poll options could be misconstrued as anything from "Fiddleback" to "Clerihewboy Neal."
J
What I'm worried about is him putting worms into everybody's heads that causes them to lose all sense of themselves.
J
The Canadian infrastructure is a bit bigger than Sweden. It is the second largest country in the world, after all, which means a lot more wiring and what not.
Plus, we're slow, eh?
J
Broadband is going to be big in Canada. Big. The federal government announced last month (via the Ministry of Industry) that all communities would have access to broadband Internet by the year 2004. The initiative is called Connecting Canadians.
A good press release, issued last month, can be found at here
. Definitely something I want to see progress, although if the CRTC gets into it too deeply, things will probably go awry.
J
You're right in one instance. The Bay of Fundy plant produces 18-20 megawatts, not gigawatts, my mistake. But the figure on worldwide tidal power is correct, 3000 gigawatts. However, after various constraints and physical mumbo jumbo, only 60 gigawatts can actually be used for something useful.
Some interesting links I found while checking my figures:
http://www.iclei.org/efacts/tidal.htm
http://www.valleyweb.com/fundytides/ It's been a while I guess since I've read the propaganda. We used to get this stuff all the time in school. I went to Annapolis Royal a few times, too, and it's all they can talk about.
J
... C++ is obfuscated enough on its own. Furthering its obfustification is an exercise in futility.
And I know, obfustification probably isn't a word.
J
... does that make Bill Gates the anti-Christ?
J
Indeed. The Bay of Fundy (yes, you nailed the spelling), which lies between Nova Scotia and New Brunswick (near Maine, for the Canadian geographically-challenged) is home to the highest tides in the world. Some 100 billion tons of water is pumped in and out of the Bay twice a day, every day. It is also the home of the only tidal energy plant in the Western hemisphere.
The Bay of Fundy does produce energy at the Annapolis Royal energy plant, but it only amounts to about 18-20 gigawatts, which equals out to about 1% of Nova Scotia's entire energy use. (Not a lot, in other words.) At last check, it is believed that some 3000 gigawatts of electricity could be produced worldwide through tidal power.
The main problem with tidal power though is that it requires a great difference between high and low tides, at least a 5 m difference. (The Bay of Fundy's high/low tide difference is 17 m.) There aren't too many places around the world with those kinds of tides. Plus, there's the downside that the energy can only be gathered every 12 hours because of the tides.
On the other hand, there are tons of places with waves. Hell, most of the planet is covered with water, so that makes for a lot of beaches. From what I've read, the technology is rather different from the tidal energy used at the Bay. (But then again, IANA hydroelectric expert.)
Since I'm a Nova Scotian, for some reason I know this stuff. Damn Nova Scotian Bay of Fundy propaganda.
J
... 'cause the last thing I need is extremely dexterous blind people with sensitive fingers reading my email.
As a side note, where the hell does everybody park at the Special Olympics?
J
... the Intel Repentium.
J
I for one, as I'm sure many people on this site, am against censorship in any fashion. Censorship discourages freedom. Hell, it's practically the exact opposite of freedom.
That aside, I'd like to know the rationale behind some of the things that are on this censored list. Just what is so offensive about www.freedom.net? According to SmartFilter, freedom.net is a sex-filled, illegally drugged, criminal teaching, worthless, sports-related occult site that gambles. How on earth did this site get into all of these ridiculous categories? I've looked at the site and it definitely does not call into any of those categories.
And what's the deal with the beloved babelfish being censored? Could somebody possibly explain that to me in a sensible, logical kind of way? I guess not only censoring web sites is enough, they actually have to censor languages or something.
All universal moral principles are idle fantasies, indeed. But what the hell is so immoral or wrong about poor babelfish?
J
I'm no expert, but I would imagine that it's easier to organize all of these domains if they're sort of categorized like the way they are now. Otherwise, if everybody got their own special TLD, it would be kind of like AOL or something, where every page or site or whatever they call them over there gets an AOL keyword.
.company, .tech or .something-else? Big Businesses already make a big deal out of capturing all of the URLs with their names in them as it is. They'd go nuts if there were unlimited TLDs.
Also, for every new TLD that comes out, Big Business has to procure all permutations of their trademarks to protect their property. Now Coca Cola, Nike, Microsoft et al. will have to go out and register microsoft.biz, coke.info, nike.museum and such.
Could you imagine the headaches businesses and ICANN would have if suddenly 500 new TLDs came out, like
Of course, that's just my opinion, yadda yadda yadda.
J
Oh, please forgive me, yer highness, for not pronouncing the Sacred Plural of Lego correctly.
Now let me go on a tangent here and offer you a tip -- not everyone who reads and posts on Slashdot is an American. I, for one, am not. As shocking as it may seem, I'm Canadian.
Now, I'm sure you'll reply with something as remarkably witty as your last anonymous post, undoubtedly with something like, "I hope you die sooner, then, Mr. Canadian" or whatever. Or maybe point out that instead of "your" I used "yer" in the first sentence of this post.
Please don't disappoint. I've come to expect so much out of Anonymous Cowards.
J
Personally, I liked No Code, Yield and Binaural.
J
You've never listened to death metal in your life. Admit it.
Take one listen to Slayer's 'Captor of Sin'.
Then listen to Third Eye Blind's 'Semi-charmed Life'.
Then listen to anything by Napalm Death.
Then listen to Pearl Jam's 'Soon Forget'. Also try practically anything from No Code.
Pearl Jam and Third Eye Blind are not death metal.
J
Activision has already done this. They've released at least one (possibly a few more while I wasn't paying attention) on the Playstation. I rented it once at Blockbuster and it brought back many fine memories of River Raid, Barnstorming and Hero. In fact, the memories were so fond, I later downloaded the ROMs for an Atari 2600 emulator.
J
PCs have had analog controls for years, and I believe that you could consider those rotating paddle things for Breakout and whatnot on the Atari 2600 could be considered analog.
J
SETI@Home. Or that new one for decoding genes or whatever. What's more important, knowing yet another binary digit in pi or knowing whether or not intelligent life exists outside of earth, or what genes turn off cancer?
J
And "real" games aren't the least bit redundant? How many times do you need to slide down a snake or climb a ladder until it becomes boring? How many times must I Pass Go and collect $200 before I want to implode my own head? And don't even get me started on Sorry!
And what's a more laughable obsession? Playing computer games, or being so obsessed with making fun of people who play video games that you actually go far out of your own way to do so?
J
Apply for something more along the lines of
"A device which circumvents the dampening of the upper layers of the epidermis and garments during periods of precipitation."
It's all in the wording.
J
Since everyone's pointing out that, yes, there have been good launch games, I guess I'll concede and say, yes, there have been a few. Very few. Maybe one, maybe two in a single console launch.
I was speaking a bit too generally, I guess.
But speaking relatively, as the system matures, so do the games. As the programmers and designers learn how to get the most out of the console, the games increase in quality dramatically over their first gen predecessors.
The NES had a wicked game at launch -- Super Mario Bros. The rest were all pretty much crap, at least compared to the system's twilight years. Gyromite, Duck Hunt, 10 Yard Fight... how much did they lick compared to Super Mario Bros. 3, >= Mega Man 4 and Bionic Commando?
The same can pretty much be said for any console.
J
... just think, a DOOM interface for NetWare...
.
Load your NLMs by selecting weapons. Kill user connections by blasting marine zombies. Run DSREPAIR by destroying the Cyberdemon.
It would be like that Jurassic Park scene where the mad haX0r kid runs the park through a virtual reality environment only with much more blood and Spider Masterminds.
Kind of like this: http://www.cs.unm.edu/~dlchao/flake/do om/
J
Not on any one game, no. I don't doubt that they've spent a hella lot of money on the PS2's launch, but I doubt they've spent as much on any single game as Nintendo put behind Mario 64. (I 99% sure that $40 million figure is correct, but dammit, I can't find my source. I think it was in an old Next Generation magazine...)
J