> taking this copy home may of helped the movie industries PR about pirates/DRM etc..
No, it wouldn't. What if he had bought it, and it turned out to be of unwatchable quality? Or even not The Two Towers at all, as it was billed to be? It would have undercut his point severely. By not buying it, he ensured that the image he could put across was a of a good copy, regardless of whether it actually was or not. Actually buying the thing was a pointless risk.
> Once MS start forcing people to use only MS-approved software, prevent you ripping CDs and > copying MP3s, force you to use even more and more MS proprietary formats and extortionate licensing > models, how many people do you think will still like to use MS Software?
If Palladium does start alienating users (I suspect it will, but the jury's still out on that), MS will drop it like a hot rock. Gates' amazing ability to turn MS on a dime when his monopoly is threatened is the main reason he still has a monopoly (See: Internet).
No, Einstein. They use their own light source. They are still not as effective at detecting smoke with low levels of particulates, though. The americium detectors are better.
> > Open Source software is, by definition, fully documented [snip]
> LMAO
Granted, this depends on your definition of "fully documented", and I find the definition of "have source code=fully documented" to be pretty poor definition myself. But try this: "Open Source software has, by definition, a guaranteed minimum of accurate and detailed (if not necessarily easily assimilated) documentation that proprietary software *can't* guarantee."
Still bad. If you are coding the date as YYMMDD, then a "junk date" should be something physically impossible--like 999999. If 'dd-mon-yyyy', then '99-xxx-9999'. If it is possible to code a completely impossible date, then *that* date should be used as a "junk" date.
> Ture, but Western Science and Medicine are surely the worst offenders in this regard.
Medicine could stand some improvement here, but western science, while a long way from perfect, does better on that score than almost anything else. Any scientist will readily give a laundry list of things he doesn't know. The very first step in any scientific research is saying, "I don't know--but I'll find out".
> Okay, but could I just take a lot of spent fuel, extract just the "pure" U235 and > reconstitute it into a big ball of "pure" 95%> U-235?
Sure. All you need to do is build a uranium enrichment facility. That'll only cost billions of dollars and require expertise found in only a handful of nuclear scientists.
> Abbott: That's the band's name. > Costello: The Who's name? > Abbott: Yes. > Costello: Well go ahead and tell me. > Abbott: That's it. > Costello: The Who? > Abbott: Yes.
Costello: So Yes is on stage... Abbott: No, Yes isn't even at the concert!
> How the hell does one business line exceed 100% of a compannies profits?
When the company, exclusive of that business line, is losing money. For example: product A made by company X shows a net profit of $120 million a year. Leaving aside the revenues and costs associated with A, X loses $20 million a year. Result: Company X as a whole shows a net profit of $100 million a year, with product A being 120% of X's profits.
But the Sega Master System got a second lease on life as the Game Gear (you could even get an adapter to play Master System cartridges in a GG). Granted, it finally got beat out by the Game Boy, but it wasn't a half-bad handheld system. I've still got mine, and pull it out and play it some times.
Chris Mattern
Re:Teddy Bear appeal...
on
Techno Teddy
·
· Score: 2
> teddy bear terror bomb
Whoa, Cowboy Bebop flashback.
"YOU! Teddy Bomber, serial bomber!"
Chris Mattern
Re:Crappy moderation...
on
What Free Cable?
·
· Score: 0, Offtopic
> You missed my point entirely. *foo is not a character. *foo is a pointer,
No, foo is a pointer. *foo is a dereferenced pointer, which means, since foo is defined as a pointer to char, it is a char. The fact that the pointer must be properly defined before it can be dereferenced does not change that.
> Saying that *foo is a character implies that you can do something like *foo = 'A';
No, it doesn't imply that. Saying that *foo is a static character variable implies that, but of course, it isn't, and we never said it was.
Chris Mattern
Re:But the question that will NEVER be answered...
on
Comic Book Physics
·
· Score: 2
> "The guy in the car actually does age negligibly less than someone standing around."
> These experiments were obviously not performed anywhere near the Long Island Expressway during > the rush hour starting Memorial day weekend
Well, it doesn't apply there; those people aren't actually *moving*.
> in the Marvel Universe, there is a company called Damage Inc. that goes around repairing > superhero/villain damage.
ubergeek_mode
It was Damage Control. That was a pretty damn funny couple of mini-series, too. How would *you* like to try and collect Victor Von Doom's overdue bills? (Actually, he paid. He is, after all, *lawful* evil...)
/ubergeek_mode
> They're paid by insurance companies who of course have SuperHero Damage Insurance Policies > for sale in all major cities.
> There's a seriously huge rivalry between our countries, mostly down to those pesky Argies > employing some decidedly unfair tactics in previous matches.:-)
Wasn't there also a minor matter involving some islands?
Slashdot Mirror
> taking this copy home may of helped the movie industries PR about pirates/DRM etc..
No, it wouldn't. What if he had bought it, and it turned out to be of unwatchable quality? Or even not The Two Towers at all, as it was billed to be? It would have undercut his point severely. By not buying it, he ensured that the image he could put across was a of a good copy, regardless of whether it actually was or not. Actually buying the thing was a pointless risk.
chris Mattern
> Real OS's shouldn't need cartoon character mascots.
Right! They should have pudgy guys dressed up in blue butterfly outfits!
Chris Mattern
> Once MS start forcing people to use only MS-approved software, prevent you ripping CDs and
> copying MP3s, force you to use even more and more MS proprietary formats and extortionate licensing
> models, how many people do you think will still like to use MS Software?
If Palladium does start alienating users (I suspect it will, but the jury's still out on that), MS will drop it like a hot rock. Gates' amazing ability to turn MS on a dime when his monopoly is threatened is the main reason he still has a monopoly (See: Internet).
Chris Mattern
-- It's free
-- Up to $5/month
-- $5 to $20/month
-- $20 to $100/month
-- $100/month and up
-- Depends on whether I get Slashdotted
-- I don't have a website, you insensitive clod!
-- CowboyNeal is my webhost
> There are no "Leaky Abstractions" in assembly.
At this point, may I whisper the word "microcode" in your ear?
Chris Mattern
No, Einstein. They use their own light source. They are still not as effective at detecting smoke with low levels of particulates, though. The americium detectors are better.
Chris Mattern
I worked almost ten years as a computer operator. I still work with people who are computer operators. Trust me, it's not as fun as you're imagining.
Chris Mattern
> > Open Source software is, by definition, fully documented [snip]
> LMAO
Granted, this depends on your definition of "fully documented", and I find the definition of "have source code=fully documented" to be pretty poor definition myself. But try this: "Open Source software has, by definition, a guaranteed minimum of accurate and detailed (if not necessarily easily assimilated) documentation that proprietary software *can't* guarantee."
Chris Mattern
> voted the best paperback SF novel of 1995 by Locus magazine
Actually somewhat impressive, but seven years ago.
> nominated for the Bram Stoker Award
"nominated", as in, "didn't win". Never heard of the award, either.
> 1996 preliminary Nebula nominee
As in, "not actually nominated"
> voted "Best Science Fiction Novel of 1995" by the readers of SFX magazine
Who? Never heard of the magazine.
> hit the New York Times bestseller list
The NYT bestseller list is shamelessly manipulated by the publishers, but OK, that's not bad.
> voted "Best Science Fiction Novel of 1996. "
By whom? The Oompa-Loompas? And when did he last update his bio? Has he gotten *any* good reviews in the last five years?
Chris Mattern
Still bad. If you are coding the date as YYMMDD, then a "junk date" should be something physically impossible--like 999999. If 'dd-mon-yyyy', then '99-xxx-9999'. If it is possible to code a completely impossible date, then *that* date should be used as a "junk" date.
Chris Mattern
How nice to have one of Jackson's press releases posted for us. Did vitiligo also reshape his nose and cheekbones?
Chris Mattern
>> They don't know how to say 'I don't know.'
> Ture, but Western Science and Medicine are surely the worst offenders in this regard.
Medicine could stand some improvement here, but western science, while a long way from perfect, does better on that score than almost anything else. Any scientist will readily give a laundry list of things he doesn't know. The very first step in any scientific research is saying, "I don't know--but I'll find out".
Chris Mattern
> Okay, but could I just take a lot of spent fuel, extract just the "pure" U235 and
> reconstitute it into a big ball of "pure" 95%> U-235?
Sure. All you need to do is build a uranium enrichment facility. That'll only cost billions of dollars and require expertise found in only a handful of nuclear scientists.
Chris Mattern
> Invade Nebraska? Now you are just being silly... :)
m mandAndConquer/gdi.html).
Indeed. Everyone knows the Temple of Nod is in Bosnia--(http://www.euronet.nl/users/jjk/games/Co
Chris Mattern
> Abbott: That's the band's name.
> Costello: The Who's name?
> Abbott: Yes.
> Costello: Well go ahead and tell me.
> Abbott: That's it.
> Costello: The Who?
> Abbott: Yes.
Costello: So Yes is on stage...
Abbott: No, Yes isn't even at the concert!
Chris Mattern
> How the hell does one business line exceed 100% of a compannies profits?
When the company, exclusive of that business line, is losing money. For example: product A made by company X shows a net profit of $120 million a year. Leaving aside the revenues and costs associated with A, X loses $20 million a year. Result: Company X as a whole shows a net profit of $100 million a year, with product A being 120% of X's profits.
Chris Mattern
> DDR meets Quake
More commonly known as "paintball"...
Chris Mattern
But the Sega Master System got a second lease on life as the Game Gear (you could even get an adapter to play Master System cartridges in a GG). Granted, it finally got beat out by the Game Boy, but it wasn't a half-bad handheld system. I've still got mine, and pull it out and play it some times.
Chris Mattern
> teddy bear terror bomb
Whoa, Cowboy Bebop flashback.
"YOU! Teddy Bomber, serial bomber!"
Chris Mattern
Charming...to the last.
Chris Mattern
If only you knew the power of the Dark Fiber...
Chris Mattern
> You missed my point entirely. *foo is not a character. *foo is a pointer,
No, foo is a pointer. *foo is a dereferenced pointer, which means, since foo is defined as a pointer to char, it is a char. The fact that the pointer must be properly defined before it can be dereferenced does not change that.
> Saying that *foo is a character implies that you can do something like *foo = 'A';
No, it doesn't imply that. Saying that *foo is a static character variable implies that, but of course, it isn't, and we never said it was.
Chris Mattern
> "The guy in the car actually does age negligibly less than someone standing around."
> These experiments were obviously not performed anywhere near the Long Island Expressway during
> the rush hour starting Memorial day weekend
Well, it doesn't apply there; those people aren't actually *moving*.
Chris Mattern
> geek_mode
/geek_mode
> in the Marvel Universe, there is a company called Damage Inc. that goes around repairing
> superhero/villain damage.
ubergeek_mode
It was Damage Control. That was a pretty damn funny couple of mini-series, too. How would *you* like to try and collect Victor Von Doom's overdue bills? (Actually, he paid. He is, after all, *lawful* evil...)
/ubergeek_mode
> They're paid by insurance companies who of course have SuperHero Damage Insurance Policies
> for sale in all major cities.
>
Chris Mattern
> There's a seriously huge rivalry between our countries, mostly down to those pesky Argies :-)
> employing some decidedly unfair tactics in previous matches.
Wasn't there also a minor matter involving some islands?
Chris Mattern