"Were there really close to 400 songs over 5 and a half minutes long that broke into the top 10? Not impossible, but seems unlikely." - Yes. Don't these dimwits realize that songs are EDITED before they hit the radio? Most songs are trimmed to approximately 4 minutes.
Sometimes the radio version has a completely different sound. It sounds like they ran the analysis on album songs, not the actual Singles that topped the Hot 100. It's seriously flawed.
It's the ebonics I object to. Just because Destiny is black does not mean they speak like illiterates.
you's actin' and you's actin'! you's trippin' 'n' I gon' actin'? Girls be like knowin'? keepin' it real as We actin'? better da street if he be actin'?
I reinstall both my Windows desktop and Linux laptop every year. Keeps them clean and removes a lot of crap (not just viruses, but old unwanted programs).
The Dreamcast's early release alienated a lot of Saturn buyers who saw their console abandoned after only three years. Sega destroyed the trust, and many customers vowed never to buy sega again. That's what killed the dreamcast.
BTW wikipedia lists the DC as part of the PS2/Xbox/Gamecube generation. It was released four years after the PS1, one year ahead of PS2 and two years ahead of GC and Xbox.
An HD movie from netflix would be about 10GB (if it's MPEG4-encoded). So it doesn't take as long to burn-through a 200GB cap as you think.
200GB/10GB==20 movies or about 40 hours. For me at 5 hour per night watching TV or movies, that's only 8 days.
On the flipside if you're willing to eschew HD and settle for SD or VHS quality, you won't get anywhere near the cap. For example youtube movies/shows at 240p are only 0.1 gigabytes (2-to-3 GB for twenty movies). So whether a "cap" affects you is a matter of how demanding you are about your quality.
One problem with our society is that we build our relationships around work. Once we retire, the work friendships disappear, and people are left with nothing. Back during the agrarian age, our friendships were mostly local neighbors who were always present right upto death.
>>>But I'm having a little trouble figuring out how a few dozen kilobucks worth of GE and Intel stuff is going to do anything to improve their lives.
You can stop your kids from nagging you to move to a nursing home. "Look you little brat. I bought this heart monitor. As soon as I have an attack, it will call 911, plus shock me back to life, so stop bugging me. So stop worrying about me."
I would sooner die a year or two earlier in my OWN home, then live longer in an elder home. I have the right to make that decision, and if technology can help me do that, even better.
BTW what's wrong with living by yourself? I do that now. Don't see the difference if I do it when I'm old.
First it says it took almost 2 years from initial console release to first pirate cracked game. Second the article says piracy did NOT cause the dreamcast's demise.
A common myth but a false one. It took a few years for pirates to figure-out how to copy the 1GB disc onto a file, since no CD drive could read it directly. (Same with the Gamecube disc.) Besides the most heavily-pirated console, the PS2, wasn't hurt at all by piracy so that negates the argument.
>>>most early PS2 games would have fit on a GD-Rom
Oh definitely. Most early games fit on a CD and were sold that way, to reduce costs.
>>>gamecube had very little to offer over PS2 or Xbox
First off the Gamecube was in a statistical TIE with the Xbox, so it didn't perform as badly as you claim. Also the cube had a lot to offer, which made me choose it as my second console rather than the xbox: - Mario - Zelda WW - Zelda 1 and 2 - Zelda Ocarina and Masks - Tales of Symphonia - Skies of Arcadia - Metroid Prime 1 and 2 - Super Monkey Ball - Resident Evil 3,4,0 - plus some others I've likely forgotten. Gamecube still remains my favorite console after the PS2. The used xbox I purchased just collects dust and I'll probably trash it soon, but I plan to keep the Cube forever.
The 90s is a long time ago but if my memory recollects, it took pirates *3 years* to crack the GD-ROM and figure out how to squeeze the 1000 MB games onto a 700MB CD. I consider that a success, since it prevented Dreamcast piracy for most of its lifespan.
Ditto for the Gamecube. Eventually it was cracked, but it protected the unit from piracy for four years. That's why Nintendo continued using the proprietary GC-ROM for its Wii (with modifications). It achieved its goal.
>>>At 25 GB per disc, it's probably a single-layer BluRay disc
That's essentially what the Gamecube disc was: A single-layer DVD-3 that recorded information in the opposite direction (from inside-to-outside). Also it recorded on layer 2 not layer 1.
The disc stored 1 and a half gigabytes (basically 2 CDs) and allowed Nintendo to use the basic commodity technology, but without paying DVD royalties.
I read it neither as "We want a new disc format to compete against Bluray" or "We can keep construction costs down".
Instead I read it as, "We want a non-standard format like we had on the Gamecube which was impossible to copy, and was not cracked by pirates for four years." It makes sense to me. Were I Nintendo I'd probably do the same.
(1) "iTunes Match, which, at a cost of $24.99, matches a userâ(TM)s existing music library against the 18 million tracks held in iTunes store, will work on the basis of assuming that you have a legal version of the music on your disk. It will have to do this to stay in keeping with the copyright laws in the US which are similar to that in Australia. "
I don't see how Apple will know whether my MP3 rip is legal or not. The author's reasoning is flawed, because I suspect iTunes will treat copied songs the same as legal songs. But I agree with (2). Most people, including myself, are merely testing stuff before buying it, in order to avoid buying crap. Like Transformers 3. If downloading is stopped, they won't suddenly run to the store and buy thousands of songs. .
>>>I know a lot of people who would be willing to pay $25 to upgrade their entire music collection to 256k
You may be right, but I don't fit into that category. As long as the song is equal to the quality I'm used to hearing (analog FM radio), less than 256k is fine with me. If it falls below 128k MP3 or 32k AACplusSBR, then it gets annoying but most of the time the quality is "good enough" for casual listening.
Plus if I really want quality, CD is the way to go. It's lossless and if it's a Greatest Hits CD you get ~15 songs for less than a dollar a piece.
>>>I don't remember much of an energy crisis in the book, only overpopulation and urban distopia.
In the nobel the energy crisis (running out of nuclear fuel) is the prime motivator to get humans off planet Earth and into the sky. Now that I think about it, it may have been the Sequel to Caves of Steel. (shrug) In any case, my point still stands - whatever fuel you use will eventually run out.
>>>You act as if a new football stadium in Baltimore doesn't benefit the person that never attends a Ravens football games.
It doesn't. Especially as someone who never goes to Baltimore (me). It's no different than if the government volunteered to build Microsoft a new factory. It's corporate welfare for the rich; and the working class has to shoulder the burden.
Not correct. When a contract is modified, it becomes a NEW contract and BOTH parties must accept the new contract. This can be done automatically through silent consent, but you can also speak-up and say, "No I reject the new contract," and it becomes null.
I know a guy who went from Electrical Tech to earn a MS in Finance. Unfortunately the bottom fell out of the stockmarket and he never found a job. He's still an E-tech.
And just to be contrarian (per usual) - I like being an engineer. I get paid to sit here and listen to audiobooks or college lectures (Teach Co) all day long. All I need to do is keep churning-out the schematics or documents or code, the managers are happy.
I can't think of any other job where I would get paid to listen to books AND get as high a salary. Secretaries can listen to audio entertainment as they work, but they don't get paid ~$50 an hour either. So I'm satisfied with my job.
>>>I'm a fan of the somewhat less predictable "funny" tag for busting up a flame war
I think/. would be better with no point system at all. Same for web forums in general. I like the way BBS forums used to be, and still exist today on Usenet and Fidonet, where a post was simply a post with no additional tags or points attached to it.
Don't have time to read the WHOLE list, but I wanted to comment on the summary:
- I prefer plug'n'play over mucking with configuration settings like "What's the IRQ on your sound card?" or "Crucial DOS command missing. Reverting to 640x480 mode." I grew-up in an era when computers had fixed settings (Atari 800, Commodore 64, and Amiga) so everything worked straight out of the box. Keep it as simple as possible.
The one thing I do like is the so-called "trainer" mode where you can give yourself infinite lives, or slower enemies, or just skip whole levels completely. That seems to be lacking in modern games.
Just to be contrarian (per usual) - I like being an engineer. I get paid to sit here and listen to audiobooks or college lectures (Teach Co). As long as I keep churning-out the schematics or documents or code, the managers are happy.
I can't think of any other job where I would get paid to listen to books AND get as high a salary.
Even if global warming happens, there's not much we can do about it. If everybody stopped burning only completely, the rise in temperature would still be 2.29 instead of the predicted* 2.3 degrees. So basically: We've already acted too late.
We should be seeking alternatives, not because of GW, but because the oil will eventually become scarce. Better to prepare for it now, rather than wait until it costs $40 a gallon and causes widespread disruption (like food scarcity). Personally I'd like to trade my car for one of those 240MPG commuter mobiles from VW, but alas they only sell in germany.
>>assumption made by the doctors is anyone planning to off themselves is bonkers crazy.
Assumption? Law is based upon proof, not assumption. Law is also based upon the assumption that everyone is 100% sane, and capable of making rational decisions, unless otherwise proved in a court of law. The anti-suicide UK law assumes that everyone is 0% sane, contrary to ~1000 years of precedent. The UK law is an irrational law and should be overturned by a judge, the same way Judge Mansfield overturned the irrationality of slavery.
Slashdot Mirror
There are some obvious flaws:
"Were there really close to 400 songs over 5 and a half minutes long that broke into the top 10? Not impossible, but seems unlikely." - Yes. Don't these dimwits realize that songs are EDITED before they hit the radio? Most songs are trimmed to approximately 4 minutes.
Sometimes the radio version has a completely different sound. It sounds like they ran the analysis on album songs, not the actual Singles that topped the Hot 100. It's seriously flawed.
It's the ebonics I object to. Just because Destiny is black does not mean they speak like illiterates.
you's actin' and you's actin'!
you's trippin' 'n' I gon' actin'?
Girls be like knowin'?
keepin' it real as We actin'?
better da street if he be actin'?
Sorry dude but this post is as racist as "black man in disguise" Jar Jar Binks. I know it probably wasn't intentional but still.....
I reinstall both my Windows desktop and Linux laptop every year. Keeps them clean and removes a lot of crap (not just viruses, but old unwanted programs).
The Dreamcast's early release alienated a lot of Saturn buyers who saw their console abandoned after only three years. Sega destroyed the trust, and many customers vowed never to buy sega again. That's what killed the dreamcast.
BTW wikipedia lists the DC as part of the PS2/Xbox/Gamecube generation. It was released four years after the PS1, one year ahead of PS2 and two years ahead of GC and Xbox.
An HD movie from netflix would be about 10GB (if it's MPEG4-encoded). So it doesn't take as long to burn-through a 200GB cap as you think.
200GB/10GB==20 movies or about 40 hours. For me at 5 hour per night watching TV or movies, that's only 8 days.
On the flipside if you're willing to eschew HD and settle for SD or VHS quality, you won't get anywhere near the cap. For example youtube movies/shows at 240p are only 0.1 gigabytes (2-to-3 GB for twenty movies). So whether a "cap" affects you is a matter of how demanding you are about your quality.
One problem with our society is that we build our relationships around work.
Once we retire, the work friendships disappear, and people are left with nothing. Back during the agrarian age, our friendships were mostly local neighbors who were always present right upto death.
>>>But I'm having a little trouble figuring out how a few dozen kilobucks worth of GE and Intel stuff is going to do anything to improve their lives.
You can stop your kids from nagging you to move to a nursing home. "Look you little brat. I bought this heart monitor. As soon as I have an attack, it will call 911, plus shock me back to life, so stop bugging me. So stop worrying about me."
I would sooner die a year or two earlier in my OWN home, then live longer in an elder home. I have the right to make that decision, and if technology can help me do that, even better.
BTW what's wrong with living by yourself?
I do that now.
Don't see the difference if I do it when I'm old.
Your link doesn't say what you claim:
First it says it took almost 2 years from initial console release to first pirate cracked game. Second the article says piracy did NOT cause the dreamcast's demise.
>>>Dreamcast was killed by Piracy
A common myth but a false one. It took a few years for pirates to figure-out how to copy the 1GB disc onto a file, since no CD drive could read it directly. (Same with the Gamecube disc.) Besides the most heavily-pirated console, the PS2, wasn't hurt at all by piracy so that negates the argument.
>>>most early PS2 games would have fit on a GD-Rom
Oh definitely. Most early games fit on a CD and were sold that way, to reduce costs.
>>>gamecube had very little to offer over PS2 or Xbox
First off the Gamecube was in a statistical TIE with the Xbox, so it didn't perform as badly as you claim. Also the cube had a lot to offer, which made me choose it as my second console rather than the xbox:
- Mario
- Zelda WW
- Zelda 1 and 2
- Zelda Ocarina and Masks
- Tales of Symphonia
- Skies of Arcadia
- Metroid Prime 1 and 2
- Super Monkey Ball
- Resident Evil 3,4,0
- plus some others I've likely forgotten. Gamecube still remains my favorite console after the PS2. The used xbox I purchased just collects dust and I'll probably trash it soon, but I plan to keep the Cube forever.
>>>Sega GDROM
The 90s is a long time ago but if my memory recollects, it took pirates *3 years* to crack the GD-ROM and figure out how to squeeze the 1000 MB games onto a 700MB CD. I consider that a success, since it prevented Dreamcast piracy for most of its lifespan.
Ditto for the Gamecube. Eventually it was cracked, but it protected the unit from piracy for four years. That's why Nintendo continued using the proprietary GC-ROM for its Wii (with modifications). It achieved its goal.
>>>At 25 GB per disc, it's probably a single-layer BluRay disc
That's essentially what the Gamecube disc was: A single-layer DVD-3 that recorded information in the opposite direction (from inside-to-outside). Also it recorded on layer 2 not layer 1.
The disc stored 1 and a half gigabytes (basically 2 CDs) and allowed Nintendo to use the basic commodity technology, but without paying DVD royalties.
I read it neither as "We want a new disc format to compete against Bluray" or "We can keep construction costs down".
Instead I read it as, "We want a non-standard format like we had on the Gamecube which was impossible to copy, and was not cracked by pirates for four years." It makes sense to me. Were I Nintendo I'd probably do the same.
(1) "iTunes Match, which, at a cost of $24.99, matches a userâ(TM)s existing music library against the 18 million tracks held in iTunes store, will work on the basis of assuming that you have a legal version of the music on your disk. It will have to do this to stay in keeping with the copyright laws in the US which are similar to that in Australia. "
I don't see how Apple will know whether my MP3 rip is legal or not. The author's reasoning is flawed, because I suspect iTunes will treat copied songs the same as legal songs. But I agree with (2). Most people, including myself, are merely testing stuff before buying it, in order to avoid buying crap. Like Transformers 3. If downloading is stopped, they won't suddenly run to the store and buy thousands of songs.
.
>>>I know a lot of people who would be willing to pay $25 to upgrade their entire music collection to 256k
You may be right, but I don't fit into that category. As long as the song is equal to the quality I'm used to hearing (analog FM radio), less than 256k is fine with me. If it falls below 128k MP3 or 32k AACplusSBR, then it gets annoying but most of the time the quality is "good enough" for casual listening.
Plus if I really want quality, CD is the way to go. It's lossless and if it's a Greatest Hits CD you get ~15 songs for less than a dollar a piece.
>>>I don't remember much of an energy crisis in the book, only overpopulation and urban distopia.
In the nobel the energy crisis (running out of nuclear fuel) is the prime motivator to get humans off planet Earth and into the sky. Now that I think about it, it may have been the Sequel to Caves of Steel. (shrug) In any case, my point still stands - whatever fuel you use will eventually run out.
>>>You act as if a new football stadium in Baltimore doesn't benefit the person that never attends a Ravens football games.
It doesn't. Especially as someone who never goes to Baltimore (me). It's no different than if the government volunteered to build Microsoft a new factory. It's corporate welfare for the rich; and the working class has to shoulder the burden.
Not correct. When a contract is modified, it becomes a NEW contract and BOTH parties must accept the new contract. This can be done automatically through silent consent, but you can also speak-up and say, "No I reject the new contract," and it becomes null.
I know a guy who went from Electrical Tech to earn a MS in Finance. Unfortunately the bottom fell out of the stockmarket and he never found a job. He's still an E-tech.
And just to be contrarian (per usual) - I like being an engineer. I get paid to sit here and listen to audiobooks or college lectures (Teach Co) all day long. All I need to do is keep churning-out the schematics or documents or code, the managers are happy.
I can't think of any other job where I would get paid to listen to books AND get as high a salary. Secretaries can listen to audio entertainment as they work, but they don't get paid ~$50 an hour either. So I'm satisfied with my job.
>>>I'm a fan of the somewhat less predictable "funny" tag for busting up a flame war
I think /. would be better with no point system at all. Same for web forums in general. I like the way BBS forums used to be, and still exist today on Usenet and Fidonet, where a post was simply a post with no additional tags or points attached to it.
Reasoning is used by males the same way tails are used by peacocks. It seems obvious (but then most discoveries are - like F=ma).
Don't have time to read the WHOLE list, but I wanted to comment on the summary:
- I prefer plug'n'play over mucking with configuration settings like "What's the IRQ on your sound card?" or "Crucial DOS command missing. Reverting to 640x480 mode." I grew-up in an era when computers had fixed settings (Atari 800, Commodore 64, and Amiga) so everything worked straight out of the box. Keep it as simple as possible.
The one thing I do like is the so-called "trainer" mode where you can give yourself infinite lives, or slower enemies, or just skip whole levels completely. That seems to be lacking in modern games.
Just to be contrarian (per usual) - I like being an engineer. I get paid to sit here and listen to audiobooks or college lectures (Teach Co). As long as I keep churning-out the schematics or documents or code, the managers are happy.
I can't think of any other job where I would get paid to listen to books AND get as high a salary.
Even if global warming happens, there's not much we can do about it. If everybody stopped burning only completely, the rise in temperature would still be 2.29 instead of the predicted* 2.3 degrees. So basically: We've already acted too late.
We should be seeking alternatives, not because of GW, but because the oil will eventually become scarce. Better to prepare for it now, rather than wait until it costs $40 a gallon and causes widespread disruption (like food scarcity). Personally I'd like to trade my car for one of those 240MPG commuter mobiles from VW, but alas they only sell in germany.
*
* 95th percentile
>>assumption made by the doctors is anyone planning to off themselves is bonkers crazy.
Assumption?
Law is based upon proof, not assumption. Law is also based upon the assumption that everyone is 100% sane, and capable of making rational decisions, unless otherwise proved in a court of law. The anti-suicide UK law assumes that everyone is 0% sane, contrary to ~1000 years of precedent. The UK law is an irrational law and should be overturned by a judge, the same way Judge Mansfield overturned the irrationality of slavery.