I saw one (with SMG) for $53,000 yesterday at the local BMW dealer (fully loaded). I asked them about the launch assist, and they said they can get the euro software and install it for a fee.
What about Tandy Deskmate? I used to run this on my 1000HX (upgraded to 640k RAM!). It was kinda slow (ok, maybe that was just my sub-10 MHz processor), but included many useful apps. This was a long time ago (I was only like 8 at the time), but I think this was just another DOS shell. And IIRC, it would only run on Tandy computers.
I shouldn't have been so vague in my use of lifestyle. By it, I don't just mean diet and excercise (although it helps). Lifestyle includes state of mind and environment. You could eat well and excercise, but if you live in a run down double-wide and be so depressed that you want to shoot yourself. Generally, I would not consider this a healthy lifestyle.
hmm... thanks for the personal attack. I don't mind my ideas being criticized, but they don't make me lame... anyways...
The difference between this and, say, a credit report is that the credit report is not part of you. It may describe your lack of paying bills, but it only describes a quality of you.
On the other hand, your genome is you. It is what you are - who you are. Credit reports created, modified, and under certain circumstances, destroyed. The information in them changes, so it is necessary to check on it from time to time - the same way you buy current newspapers as opposed to the same issue every day. Your genes are, for the most part, static. They are with you from the time your dad's sperm met with your mom's egg. Credit reports and school transcripts are explicit properites of you, but your genome is implicit.
I'm not arguing with you about the service aspect of this; after all, it is just as much of a service as getting a copy of your credit report. It is just the content that I see differently
Sure, it would be nice to know in advance if I am susceptible to getting diabietes like my grandmother, or heart disease like most of my mother's side of the family. However, if I do all I can to be healthy (i.e., not eating junkfood while laying on my couch all day), there is a significantly less chance of my being afflicted by these ailments. Some things could not be prevented, but I already know I have them (depression, bad eyesight).
If people spend their "pocket change" on this, they may be in for a suprise. They may find that they have the genes for an increased risk of myocardial infarctions (heart attack), but because they have neglected thier health, they may find it hard to change thier lifestyle to a more healthy one. Although many health-related problems cannot be avoided (for instance, Huntington's Disease, which usually doesn't show up untill your 30's), many diseases that you may be high-risk for can be prevented with a proper lifestyle.
hmm... As any geek would know, this is only a "kilo-hour TiVo," not a "mega-hour TiVo" as the blurb states. For those who forgot thier prefixes, here is a short list of the powers-of-ten prefixes:
Although the Protein Power diet is nice, Weightloss For You has a much more comprehensive diet plan. We (yes, I am affiliated with company) offer a complete system, which includes everything from snacks and vitamins to a comprehensive online management program to track your results. The diet is inspired by the Atkin's diet, but is much more refined and easier to follow. We don't use dangerous weightloss drugs like ephedra, which can cause more harm than good, and eventually lead to regaining any lost weight. Check out the site if interested.
Um, last I checked, Coleman sells a fuel cell generator, as reported in January on Slashdot. For those with no long-term memory, it is an $8k device that offers 1.2KW for 10 hours. Ok, well they haven't gone on sale yet, but it looks like they have most everything figured out. Also, the article links to two websites selling fuel cells right now.
Actually, motion pictures are shot at 24fps, not the 16fps as you stated. If movies were shot at 16fps, the flicker from the projectors would drive you insane. Also, NTSC video signals (i.e., standard U.S. TV broadcasts) are interlaced, providing 60 fields per second (a field is a half-frame, composed of every other line). A projector like in the movies is non-interlaced, meaning it displays a full frame at a time. The advantage to an interlaced signal is that they are perceived to be much smoother in terms of motion, at the cost of signal precision.
My guess is that this system runs ~10fps, but because you are directly stimulating the retina over a broad area (10x10 pixels for the entire image, so the individual pixels are made of relatively large areas of retina compared to standard vision), most likely it wouldn't matter too much. These people probably are just happy they get to see again after being blind thier whole lives; I don't think you will get many complaints that the image is not optimal. It is not likely that someone will brag, "Hey, my retina chip can render Quake III at 10fps!"
If you don't get the joke, don't mod down. There is nothing offtopic about the parent comment.
That said, this is a pretty interesting concept. In countries like Japan, 99% of the population is cremated, and it is proper to have a shrine dedicated to the remains (depending on your religious beliefs). I even remember seeing something on TV about a computerized public shrine system in which the family members insert a smart card or whatever, and a robotic system fetches the urn containing the remains and places it in the shrine. It all happens seamlessly behind the scenes. Since they usually don't discard the remains (i.e., dump them on trees or whatever), storing the remains can become a problem. If you just decided to keep a diamond, you would save quite a bit of space over a traditional urn.
I wonder if they have this service for pets. I have a dog who coincidentally, is named Diamond. I can make a real diamond out of a Diamond. Hmm...
This is exactly what I have been doing for years; look at the components I want in person, get a feel for them, then go search the net for the best price. I'm sure I save well over $1000 a year if not more by doing this, with the added advantage of actually getting to touch/feel/interact with the product.
Until recently, my grandma has been renting old rotary telephones from the local Bell, dating to 1972. The phones were leased for something like $5 a month per phone (two phones total). She refused to give them up, saying "if they aren't broke, why fix them?" and felt she had no business pleading with the phone company to lower her rate. I called Bell personally, asking why the heck they are ripping my grandma off for all these years. I told them in all, she has payed over $1800 per phone over the last 30 years. They agreed that it was expensive, and decided to let her keep the phones at no additional cost (gee, how nice).
With only one manufacturer of pinball tables remaining, pinball is really in a sad state. I've always been a fan of pinball, but in the last year, I doubt that I have gone more than a week without playing a game of pinball. Fortunately, a local college arcade (Playland, downtown State College, Pa) has 9 tables, and the local arcade vendor usually keeps a few on campus in commons areas. I'm darn sure I've spent nearly $1000 in the last year playing, and my skill has been rapidly improving (I have many of the top score / Grand Master scores on the tables). I just can't get enough. I'm fortunate to have good arcade ops who keep the tables in good working condition, but many do not have such luck. I am desperately awaiting the release of Roller Coaster Tycoon, Stern's next table. They are still using the WhiteStar pinball MPU, which by now is quite dated.
I plan to soon start a Pinball enthusiast's club here at Penn State, but rather than being a club solely for playing / competing, I would much rather build a table. To save costs, many off-the-shelf compents will be used, and the game would be controlled by a PC (most likely running linux or the such) with custom interface hardware. The backglass could feature a full-color LCD for score and animations, and all playfield lamps would be LEDs. I think this would be a fun project, and anyone who is interested should email me. Of course, it would help the most if you lived near Penn State. I need not only computer/hardware people other than myself, but also artists, musicians, and people good with woodworking and metal crafts. Any suggestions?
This watch also holds claim as the only watch ever to be used on the moon. Because of thier super-high precission, these watches became the official watch of NASA (which you should know, of course, because it was in the article). It is just too bad that it is so hard to find an original tuning fork model for a reasonable price (and to find parts to fix it when it breaks!). Oh well....
hmm... I'm not sure what to say. While I agree that there tends to be a correlation between BMWs and dickheadedness, many people decide to purchase them because of thier superior build quality and performance and not because of thier status symbolism. Sure, it is easy to call them "overpriced German-made Civics," until you actually drive one for some period of time, you should withold judgement. Anybody who is a car enthusiast will tell you that a BMW offers a superior driving experience, even compared to similarly (high) priced competitiors. I do not own a bimmer (BMW motorcycles are beemers, the cars are bimmers), but when I can afford one, a 3-series will be tops on my list. Many people who view cars as simply a utilitarian device, are quite content in thier choice of automobile, whether it be a Honda or a Ford. And I can entirely understand thier view. But for someone like me who enjoys driving and demands the most from thier cars, BMWs are quite a good choice.
Again, I'm not saying you are wrong, but perhaps maybe jumped to a stereotypical conclusion. Also, there is nothing wrong with going 5 under the speed limit, after all, it is a limit and not the speed that you must drive. I have no problem with slow drivers, as long as they don't provide a dangerous obstacle. Not using turn signals, however, is not good. I hate people who don't use turn signals.
Disclaimer: I live in rural Pennsylvania, and am therefore, frequently forced to drive slowly behind horse-and-buggys, which are equipped with neither turn signals nor brake lights. They regularly drive well... 5 miles an hour and run red lights on occasion, as if they hand-built their soverign right to the road.
Sometimes, I get "in the zone" while playing pinball. You know when this happens, because you hit all of your shots perfectly and just keep on going. Recently, in a game of Monopoly, I got in this zone, and was able to play a single ball for well over an hour (not to mention, score about 80,000,000 with it). I was soon distracted by my local pinball friends/rivals, and fell out of my groove, but I still finished the game with a respectable 119.8M points (don't believe me? Its documented here. My initials are DJP).
I guess what I'm trying to say is that when you are in the zone, stuff is just automatic. The only thing in your head is the task at hand. Tetris also seems to have a similar effect on me...
'I sold my house, my collection of weapons, my stamp albums and my military medals to get this project off the ground after training for more than two years for the official experiment before it was abandoned,' he said. 'I'm not looking for fame. What fascinates me is the record and the physical challenge involved.
Laser beams cannot penetrate soil, so it won't work against buried mines.
From what I know, most anti-personel (and I'd assume, anti-vehicle mines) are burried a few inches underground for concealment. If at all, the only part that is above the ground is the pressure plate that activates the mine. Perhaps adding focused sound waves or other suitable technology can distrupt the ground nearby enough to allow the laser to reach the entire mine. This device is therefor only suitable for mines strewn about by helicopters or low-flying aircraft.
When a car is turned off, a small amount of unburned fuel is left inside the engine. Because one or more valves may be open, hot gasoline vapors may escape either through the intake manifold and eventually out of the engine, or throught the exaust manifold where the catalytic converter does nothing, because it only reacts with the byproducts of combustion. Other factors, including soot in the exaust cause pollution also.
Many people who drive electric vehicles do so because they believe that since they are zero-emission, they do not pollute. However, that is not the case. Remember, the power company that supplies your power to charge the car most likey does so by consuming natural resources (coal, oil, natural gas) or using nuclear power (which has concerns of its own). In fact, you may actually end up polluting more that a convensional vehicle. While the Insight, Prius, and Civic Hybrid are quite nice, I would recomment the Nissan Sentra CA. It is PZLEV (partial zero-emissions vehicle) and is the only SULEV vehicle on the road. The only caveat is that it is only sold in California. Nissan claims that this car pollutes less driving 20 miles than a regular car just sitting in the garage. Definately worth checking out.
The worst thing any of us can do is flood them with comments like "DRM Sucks CowboyNeal's Dirty Toes" and the like. Be professional and curtious, and allow your concerns to be heard. Although I do not support any of today's proposed DRM technologies, I feel it is important to protect the artist's (as opposed to the profit-hungry record company's) interest.
Whatever your stance is, however, Be Sure to Write! Someone probably will read your comment and take it into consideration, as long as you are professional about it. Now that we have the opportunity to be heard, be sure that we are.
Apparently, Russia thought of a plan back in 1989, proposed by NPO Energia. It was to be 716 days in length, with a crew of 4 (only 2 would go to the surface for 7 days). The craft that would go to mars would be constructed in space, and 5 Energia-class heavy-lift boosters would take it up there. Read about the plan here. Apparently, the project never got off the ground, so to speak.
Slashdot Mirror
I saw one (with SMG) for $53,000 yesterday at the local BMW dealer (fully loaded). I asked them about the launch assist, and they said they can get the euro software and install it for a fee.
If only I could afford even a used car...
What about Tandy Deskmate? I used to run this on my 1000HX (upgraded to 640k RAM!). It was kinda slow (ok, maybe that was just my sub-10 MHz processor), but included many useful apps. This was a long time ago (I was only like 8 at the time), but I think this was just another DOS shell. And IIRC, it would only run on Tandy computers.
Sorry, but all of that work is derivitive work of my "3810 Minutes and 50 Seconds of Absolutely Nothing at All."
Ok, its really just my spindle of 50 blank 74 minute CD-Rs.... But still, you all owe me a "reasonable fee!"
I shouldn't have been so vague in my use of lifestyle. By it, I don't just mean diet and excercise (although it helps). Lifestyle includes state of mind and environment. You could eat well and excercise, but if you live in a run down double-wide and be so depressed that you want to shoot yourself. Generally, I would not consider this a healthy lifestyle.
hmm... thanks for the personal attack. I don't mind my ideas being criticized, but they don't make me lame... anyways...
The difference between this and, say, a credit report is that the credit report is not part of you. It may describe your lack of paying bills, but it only describes a quality of you.
On the other hand, your genome is you. It is what you are - who you are. Credit reports created, modified, and under certain circumstances, destroyed. The information in them changes, so it is necessary to check on it from time to time - the same way you buy current newspapers as opposed to the same issue every day. Your genes are, for the most part, static. They are with you from the time your dad's sperm met with your mom's egg. Credit reports and school transcripts are explicit properites of you, but your genome is implicit.
I'm not arguing with you about the service aspect of this; after all, it is just as much of a service as getting a copy of your credit report. It is just the content that I see differently
Why would I pay for something I already own?
Sure, it would be nice to know in advance if I am susceptible to getting diabietes like my grandmother, or heart disease like most of my mother's side of the family. However, if I do all I can to be healthy (i.e., not eating junkfood while laying on my couch all day), there is a significantly less chance of my being afflicted by these ailments. Some things could not be prevented, but I already know I have them (depression, bad eyesight).
If people spend their "pocket change" on this, they may be in for a suprise. They may find that they have the genes for an increased risk of myocardial infarctions (heart attack), but because they have neglected thier health, they may find it hard to change thier lifestyle to a more healthy one. Although many health-related problems cannot be avoided (for instance, Huntington's Disease, which usually doesn't show up untill your 30's), many diseases that you may be high-risk for can be prevented with a proper lifestyle.
hmm... As any geek would know, this is only a "kilo-hour TiVo," not a "mega-hour TiVo" as the blurb states. For those who forgot thier prefixes, here is a short list of the powers-of-ten prefixes:
10^3 - kilo
10^6 - mega
10^9 - giga
10^12 - tera
10^15 - peta
10^18 - exa
10^21 - zetta
10^24 - yotta
learn 'em and use 'em properly.
Although the Protein Power diet is nice, Weightloss For You has a much more comprehensive diet plan. We (yes, I am affiliated with company) offer a complete system, which includes everything from snacks and vitamins to a comprehensive online management program to track your results. The diet is inspired by the Atkin's diet, but is much more refined and easier to follow. We don't use dangerous weightloss drugs like ephedra, which can cause more harm than good, and eventually lead to regaining any lost weight. Check out the site if interested.
Wow... I personally know 2 extremely intelligent blonde women, and quite a few extremely intelligent women who are not blonde.
And remeber, intelligent does not mean how simiar their thought processes are to yours.
Um, last I checked, Coleman sells a fuel cell generator, as reported in January on Slashdot. For those with no long-term memory, it is an $8k device that offers 1.2KW for 10 hours. Ok, well they haven't gone on sale yet, but it looks like they have most everything figured out. Also, the article links to two websites selling fuel cells right now.
Actually, motion pictures are shot at 24fps, not the 16fps as you stated. If movies were shot at 16fps, the flicker from the projectors would drive you insane. Also, NTSC video signals (i.e., standard U.S. TV broadcasts) are interlaced, providing 60 fields per second (a field is a half-frame, composed of every other line). A projector like in the movies is non-interlaced, meaning it displays a full frame at a time. The advantage to an interlaced signal is that they are perceived to be much smoother in terms of motion, at the cost of signal precision.
My guess is that this system runs ~10fps, but because you are directly stimulating the retina over a broad area (10x10 pixels for the entire image, so the individual pixels are made of relatively large areas of retina compared to standard vision), most likely it wouldn't matter too much. These people probably are just happy they get to see again after being blind thier whole lives; I don't think you will get many complaints that the image is not optimal. It is not likely that someone will brag, "Hey, my retina chip can render Quake III at 10fps!"
If you don't get the joke, don't mod down. There is nothing offtopic about the parent comment.
That said, this is a pretty interesting concept. In countries like Japan, 99% of the population is cremated, and it is proper to have a shrine dedicated to the remains (depending on your religious beliefs). I even remember seeing something on TV about a computerized public shrine system in which the family members insert a smart card or whatever, and a robotic system fetches the urn containing the remains and places it in the shrine. It all happens seamlessly behind the scenes. Since they usually don't discard the remains (i.e., dump them on trees or whatever), storing the remains can become a problem. If you just decided to keep a diamond, you would save quite a bit of space over a traditional urn.
I wonder if they have this service for pets. I have a dog who coincidentally, is named Diamond. I can make a real diamond out of a Diamond. Hmm...
I knew Shircuit Shitty was good for something!
This is exactly what I have been doing for years; look at the components I want in person, get a feel for them, then go search the net for the best price. I'm sure I save well over $1000 a year if not more by doing this, with the added advantage of actually getting to touch/feel/interact with the product.
Until recently, my grandma has been renting old rotary telephones from the local Bell, dating to 1972. The phones were leased for something like $5 a month per phone (two phones total). She refused to give them up, saying "if they aren't broke, why fix them?" and felt she had no business pleading with the phone company to lower her rate. I called Bell personally, asking why the heck they are ripping my grandma off for all these years. I told them in all, she has payed over $1800 per phone over the last 30 years. They agreed that it was expensive, and decided to let her keep the phones at no additional cost (gee, how nice).
The sad thing is, they still work...
With only one manufacturer of pinball tables remaining, pinball is really in a sad state. I've always been a fan of pinball, but in the last year, I doubt that I have gone more than a week without playing a game of pinball. Fortunately, a local college arcade (Playland, downtown State College, Pa) has 9 tables, and the local arcade vendor usually keeps a few on campus in commons areas. I'm darn sure I've spent nearly $1000 in the last year playing, and my skill has been rapidly improving (I have many of the top score / Grand Master scores on the tables). I just can't get enough. I'm fortunate to have good arcade ops who keep the tables in good working condition, but many do not have such luck. I am desperately awaiting the release of Roller Coaster Tycoon, Stern's next table. They are still using the WhiteStar pinball MPU, which by now is quite dated.
I plan to soon start a Pinball enthusiast's club here at Penn State, but rather than being a club solely for playing / competing, I would much rather build a table. To save costs, many off-the-shelf compents will be used, and the game would be controlled by a PC (most likely running linux or the such) with custom interface hardware. The backglass could feature a full-color LCD for score and animations, and all playfield lamps would be LEDs. I think this would be a fun project, and anyone who is interested should email me. Of course, it would help the most if you lived near Penn State. I need not only computer/hardware people other than myself, but also artists, musicians, and people good with woodworking and metal crafts. Any suggestions?
This watch also holds claim as the only watch ever to be used on the moon. Because of thier super-high precission, these watches became the official watch of NASA (which you should know, of course, because it was in the article). It is just too bad that it is so hard to find an original tuning fork model for a reasonable price (and to find parts to fix it when it breaks!). Oh well....
hmm... I'm not sure what to say. While I agree that there tends to be a correlation between BMWs and dickheadedness, many people decide to purchase them because of thier superior build quality and performance and not because of thier status symbolism. Sure, it is easy to call them "overpriced German-made Civics," until you actually drive one for some period of time, you should withold judgement. Anybody who is a car enthusiast will tell you that a BMW offers a superior driving experience, even compared to similarly (high) priced competitiors. I do not own a bimmer (BMW motorcycles are beemers, the cars are bimmers), but when I can afford one, a 3-series will be tops on my list. Many people who view cars as simply a utilitarian device, are quite content in thier choice of automobile, whether it be a Honda or a Ford. And I can entirely understand thier view. But for someone like me who enjoys driving and demands the most from thier cars, BMWs are quite a good choice.
Again, I'm not saying you are wrong, but perhaps maybe jumped to a stereotypical conclusion. Also, there is nothing wrong with going 5 under the speed limit, after all, it is a limit and not the speed that you must drive. I have no problem with slow drivers, as long as they don't provide a dangerous obstacle. Not using turn signals, however, is not good. I hate people who don't use turn signals.
Disclaimer: I live in rural Pennsylvania, and am therefore, frequently forced to drive slowly behind horse-and-buggys, which are equipped with neither turn signals nor brake lights. They regularly drive well... 5 miles an hour and run red lights on occasion, as if they hand-built their soverign right to the road.
Sometimes, I get "in the zone" while playing pinball. You know when this happens, because you hit all of your shots perfectly and just keep on going. Recently, in a game of Monopoly, I got in this zone, and was able to play a single ball for well over an hour (not to mention, score about 80,000,000 with it). I was soon distracted by my local pinball friends/rivals, and fell out of my groove, but I still finished the game with a respectable 119.8M points (don't believe me? Its documented here. My initials are DJP).
I guess what I'm trying to say is that when you are in the zone, stuff is just automatic. The only thing in your head is the task at hand. Tetris also seems to have a similar effect on me...
cake slice:
one cut on x axis (in half)
one cut on y axis (in half again)
one cut on z axis (instead of cutting down into the cake, cut horizontally through it)
remember, you need to double the number of slices with each cut (2^3=8). Try to think of cutting it on all sides, not just the top
This guy has balls.
When a car is turned off, a small amount of unburned fuel is left inside the engine. Because one or more valves may be open, hot gasoline vapors may escape either through the intake manifold and eventually out of the engine, or throught the exaust manifold where the catalytic converter does nothing, because it only reacts with the byproducts of combustion. Other factors, including soot in the exaust cause pollution also.
Many people who drive electric vehicles do so because they believe that since they are zero-emission, they do not pollute. However, that is not the case. Remember, the power company that supplies your power to charge the car most likey does so by consuming natural resources (coal, oil, natural gas) or using nuclear power (which has concerns of its own). In fact, you may actually end up polluting more that a convensional vehicle. While the Insight, Prius, and Civic Hybrid are quite nice, I would recomment the Nissan Sentra CA. It is PZLEV (partial zero-emissions vehicle) and is the only SULEV vehicle on the road. The only caveat is that it is only sold in California. Nissan claims that this car pollutes less driving 20 miles than a regular car just sitting in the garage. Definately worth checking out.
The worst thing any of us can do is flood them with comments like "DRM Sucks CowboyNeal's Dirty Toes" and the like. Be professional and curtious, and allow your concerns to be heard. Although I do not support any of today's proposed DRM technologies, I feel it is important to protect the artist's (as opposed to the profit-hungry record company's) interest.
Whatever your stance is, however, Be Sure to Write! Someone probably will read your comment and take it into consideration, as long as you are professional about it. Now that we have the opportunity to be heard, be sure that we are.
Apparently, Russia thought of a plan back in 1989, proposed by NPO Energia. It was to be 716 days in length, with a crew of 4 (only 2 would go to the surface for 7 days). The craft that would go to mars would be constructed in space, and 5 Energia-class heavy-lift boosters would take it up there. Read about the plan here. Apparently, the project never got off the ground, so to speak.