Also, on other unit scales, why is it that the definition of the kilogram has moved from being defined as 1000cc (1L) of water at maximum density (4 deg. C) and gone to being defined by this chunck of platinum in the NIST valut. These standards are supposed to be easy to reproduce, where as I cannot easily reproduce the weight of the platinum chunk if I don't have it to compare to.
The Turkish government could not have arrested Ertas if they weren't able to determine who had "inserted" the contraband information, nor would the equivalent of a freenet-based DMOZ be susceptible to coercion of any sort in pursuit of the removal any particular category.
It is vital that editors are not anonymous, how can you trust an editor if you don't know who they are?
Or if you wanted too look at it differently, Windows interface is non-standard. As many other comments have pointed out, this is an Apple product ported to Windows made to function as closely as possible to OSX, so, the interface is actually pretty close to "standard" to OSX.
Do Mac people enjoying using Windows apps ported to OSX, but made to look and feel like XP? No. Interfaces should be made to conform to the standards of the platform they run on, and ported software in particular should not retain the look and feel of the platform it's comming from. I understand Apple's reasoning in deciding to retain the OSX look and feel, but they should expect criticism all the same.
But you'll need to reactivate it when you reinstall. That's not possible (we're talking about a future where Valve has stopped maintaining the Steam servers here).
What then? Why, I continue playing my copy of Half-Life 2. Since I unlocked it, I disabled internet access to steam, and Half-Life 2 still works without a hitch.
Which is fine, but means you can never reinstall the game again. An upgrade or harddisk crash will mean you forever lose access to HL2.
If your friends aren't looking to change their OS then just forget your little crusade because all you're going to do is piss people off.
Not necessarily, it doesn't have to a big pro-Linux conversion exercise. It just needs to cater to each person's interests. Plenty of games for those who enjoy them. Or if you've got an aunt who's interested in family trees find some OS software she might like to try. It's a lot of work though.
Re:Steam-like online distrubtion is inevitable
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Review: Half-Life 2
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· Score: 1
The problem is that Steam is not online distribution. It's online distribution and access control. That is a whole lot harder to accept.
A previous poster mentioned a large rocket prototype exploding on the launchpad and killing 150 people. That rocket was supposed to do the same job as the saturn rocket, but failed due to vibration problems ( I think it had 11 engines ).
You're confused. You're thinking of the N1 launcher (the Soviet moon rocket). It had 30(!) engines in the first stage. The failure of the N1 5L mission in 1969 did destroy one of the launch complexes at Baikonur, but it didn't kill 150 people. It's detailed here. The vibration problem happened in the N1 3L, and was due to small metal particles in one of the gas turbines. The rocket failed some 68 seconds into the mission, and crashed 45 km down range. The 150 people died in an accident in 1960, also at Baikonur, but this was a ballistic missile prototype (R16). From astronautix.com:
This On 24 October 1960 the first R-16 prototype was fuelled and on the pad, awaiting launch. An electrical problem developed, leading to a hold. Marshal Nedelin, commander of the Strategic Rocket Forces, ordered the engineers and technicians to fix the problem without the long delay of defuelling and refurbishing the missile. He personally had a deck chair brought out to the pad so he could watch the work first-hand. At 18:45 local time a spurious radio signal ordered the second stage of the rocket to fire while workers swarmed around the missile in its gantry. The missile exploded, killing a good part of the Soviet Union's rocket engineering and management talent. Among the dead were Nedelin, Konopalev (designer of the missile's guidance system), Grishin (deputy chairman of GKOT), Nosov (chief of launch command at Baikonur), and OKB-586 engineers Kontsevsky and Lev Berlin. 74 people were killed immediately, and 48 died in the ensuing weeks from burns or contact with the toxic and corrosive propellants. The total included 38 civilian engineers and 84 officers and enlisted rocket technicians.
The Soviet's had a lot of failures though, more than the US would accept. E.g. the four N1 moon launcher failures, and the failure of this mission. The other thing to keep in mind is that the majority of the Soviet space program was military in nature (only 20% of mission were non-military), and the Soviet military are far more willing to take risks on conditions to meet deadlines than NASA.
Comments at the website (yes I RTFA) say it wasn't a faulty sensor but a software error which caused the Polyus to turn 360 instead of 180 degree upon reaching orbit, and it boosted itself back into the atmosphere.
You didn't RT Encyclopedia Astronautica FA:
Polyus's failure to achieve working orbit was caused by a faulty inertial guidance sensor. In the rush of construction an already built sensor had been stripped from an existing Cosmos spacecraft and then been inadequately tested, as the Polyus mock-up had been shipped to Baikonur by the time the test equipment arrived at the Krunichev Factory. Those responsible for the failure were immediately fired or demoted.
That's probably a more reliable source than some enthusiast on a message board.
Electric cars may be more efficient and cheaper to build, but you have to plug them in and wait. That's not acceptable, if only once every year when your friend/family member needs a ride.
Easily solved: two sets of batteries. Charge one while using the other, then switch.
Perhaps he is refering to "Applications" such as the "Nvidia Driver Software" for Linux? That has to be rebuilt/recompiled if you switch kernels, even when switching between 2.6.9-r1 to -r2 etc (Gentoo!).
No, the author is just clueless. Look at the first paragraph:
In a worrying parallel to the issue that stopped Unix becoming a mass-market product in the 1980s - leaving the field clear for Microsoft - a recent open source conference saw a leading Linux kernel developer predict that there could soon be two versions of the Linux kernel.
He's obviously not aware that parallel development and stable branches are the norm for Linux, and indeed most open source software.
"Recently, researchers successfully sent data from Switzerland to Tokyo at speeds of 7.21 gigabits per second. That was enough speed to transfer a full-length DVD anywhere in the world in less than five seconds, researchers said."
Are they really that retarded? They can send data from Switzerland to Tokyo at 7 gigabits per second, so therefore they can send data anywhere in the world at that speed? I know they're that not that stupid, so why do they insist on being deliberately misleading in the media? Their own dishonesty seriously erodes their moral position, IMHO.
Ah, okay... Thanks for the info. Still, it's pretty amusing that they remade an entire movie so that they could use bits in an intro for the next one.:)
Evil Dead II wasn't that reshoot though. They did reshoot parts of Evil Dead II for AoD. At the time they made Evil Dead II, Sam and co had no idea if they'd get to make a third movie (AoD was made 6 years later). Evil Dead II was made primarily because of Raimi's lack of success with Crimewave. I'm sure it would have been made eventually, but the timing was due to Raimi, Tapert, and Campbell needing do something successful. Grab a copy of Bruce Campbell's biography, If Chins Could Kill, he explains it.
This doesn't affeect my point that black, ie rgb 0:0:0 for any monitor is the colour it is when it's switched off.
Nope. LCDs (when on) display black by arranging for the liquid crystal to block the light comming from the backlight, not by switching the backlight off (which would result in the whole display going black). But some light still leaks through. For an active LCD, the "default" color is white - the color of the backlight. For CRTs, black is "all electron guns off" so it is the color of the montior when switched off. Look at an LCD in a dark room and you'll see that black on LCDs is rarely as dark as the black on CRTs.
I yeah, I forgot, this is Slashdot. You guys re-install your OS every three days or so in order to keep out the zombie ninja spies from peering out of the computer into you mind.
I do a major upgrade every two to three years, which normally includes a fresh OS install. I also go through cycles of running low on disk space, deleting the games I haven't played for a while, and then reinstalling them when I feel like playing again. Diablo II gets that treatment a lot.
Even so, if you have a net connection on that computer, you are fine.
Provided Valve are still maintaining the authentication service. Which is the whole point - what guarentee do we have?
Windows XP requires authentication every reinstall. How is this any different?
It's not at all. But I remember the outcry here when MS announced their product activation system. Quite different to the way Valve's plan seems to be accepted. Is that because MS is the "evil empire" while Valve are well-loved?
2. they can always make a patch to disable authentication needs.
But will they? You're relying on the good will of the company either way (patch or continued authentication), which you shouldn't have to do after you've bought the game.
Since I bought it, I can crack it legally. Anybody who thinks different, well, they're wrong.
You may be able to crack it morally, and even ethically, but not legally now the DCMA is law. Even then the number of owners who can crack the software themselves will be quite low, so the legally of cracking it doesn't matter much, because it ain't legal to distribute the cracked software (which is what most owners will require). Though again, morally and ethically justifiable...
What if Halflife 3 through 7 are shit? Maybe HL2 is the last good one.
Plenty of people play games 10 years old, and older. Look at the popularity of abandonware. Sure there'll probably be a crack, but some people would refer to be able to play the game they purchased legally.
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No way. If it was anyone could pass out copies. You have to reactivate.
But you'll need to reactivate it when you reinstall. That's not possible (we're talking about a future where Valve has stopped maintaining the Steam servers here).
The problem is that Steam is not online distribution. It's online distribution and access control. That is a whole lot harder to accept.
The Soviet's had a lot of failures though, more than the US would accept. E.g. the four N1 moon launcher failures, and the failure of this mission. The other thing to keep in mind is that the majority of the Soviet space program was military in nature (only 20% of mission were non-military), and the Soviet military are far more willing to take risks on conditions to meet deadlines than NASA.
Plenty of people play games 10 years old, and older. Look at the popularity of abandonware. Sure there'll probably be a crack, but some people would refer to be able to play the game they purchased legally.