I think the chance involved in the evolution of the universe is much like a random number generated on my PC. It looks random if you don't know the rules. The only time when chance might have played a part was in the configuration of the primordeal pinhead, ever since then we have been going through the motions ordained by the rules of this universe. But it sure makes life more fun if you think you have free will:)
You have stated a reasonable argument for Creationism, but unfortunately most creationists also believe that the universe was created by a particular deity. They give this god a name and a sex, and some even believe in details about the universe that totally contradict observed fact.
I remember reading about a particular type of sub-atomic reaction that is best explained if one of the particles involved does actually travel backward in time. I wish I could remember more details.
Every registered voter can participate in the primaries. Despite your allegations that McCain was popular with the people his supporters were outvoted by the Bush constituency.
I think McCain didn't win the primaries because:
He isn't conservative enough
His neck hangs over his collar and makes him look real funny
Isn't it interesting that the first thing many people (including me) wanted to say about a robot pet that brings up many philosophical issues about the meaning of life compared to mechanical replacements is that the PC Card slot is in a funny location?
The German law against violence in video games is a good example of a law with good intentions that could go awry. Once the government starts enforcing value judgements about content then there is a real danger that your own values may be outlawed.
However I must give credit to Germany for having better laws on protecting the privacy of personal data, something we need in the US.
Uh oh, someone stated an opinion on this board. Good thing you were smart enough to figure that out. We wouldn't want to have any opinions here, would we?
Gambling goes deeper than entertainment, it is a very direct challenge to Fate, or Destiny, or whatever one calls it. The gambler may know that the game is a losing proposition, but he or she thinks about beating the odds and winning big.
Most world religions are based on determining Fate, and there is an immense amount of literature that deals with this subject in all cultures. Capitalism revolves around gambling as well, take a closer look at the stock market (especially futures) and you will see this.
I think Sun made StarOffice free and open source to try to hit Microsoft where it really hurts: Office sales. Sun doesn't care about making money on productivity suites, they only want to screw Microsoft. IIRC Office is the biggest money maker for MS.
This tactic comes right out of Microsoft's playbook: screw the competition by giving away the product that competes with their cash cow. In this case I would be delighted to see MS hoisted with their own petard.
It is easy to think that everyone and their moms are buying tons of these incredibly fast machines, especially if you look at a lot of the gaming and business websites. CNET is a prime example; some of the reviews there imply that you have a 2 inch willie if you don't have an 800Mhz box of doom under your desk.
But if you look at sales figures you can see the most growth in two areas:
Cheap desktops (less than $1000)
Notebooks
I think people are getting smarter about computers and making the decision to buy a cheaper desktop if they don't need all that speed, and also choosing a smaller, cooler form factor like a laptop instead of buying a high-performance desktop.
In addition, it looks like thin clients are making another go of it and that also indicates that people are rejecting performance at the cost of simplicity/reliability.
There will always be a hardcore minority of game/benchmark freaks that want the latest and greatest, and since they tend to also have more technical knowledge they have a disproportional representation on the web.
BTW since I just bought a new space heater... I mean Athlon desktop I have to count myself amongst the hardware freaks, but I sympathize with those that want a simpler computing experience.
I thought the results were quite humorous. I personally don't want to waste my time fooling around with privacy filters when I could be downloading pictures of your mom naked instead:)
There IS a conspiracy to raise RAM prices, but it's legal. A couple of years ago RAM prices were dropping daily, and all the major RAM manufacturers were losing their shirts. They came to the conclusion that if they reduced the supply then the prices would go up, so they cut back on production.
This is the inevitable result of capitalism. Fortunately it won't last forever; one of those memory manufacturers will get greedy and pump up production to take advantage of high prices. Everyone else will raise production too to keep up, and prices will drop again.
If memory serves the same thing happened to the hard drive market at about the same time.
Slashdot Mirror
Bimbos use Word.
I think the chance involved in the evolution of the universe is much like a random number generated on my PC. It looks random if you don't know the rules. The only time when chance might have played a part was in the configuration of the primordeal pinhead, ever since then we have been going through the motions ordained by the rules of this universe. But it sure makes life more fun if you think you have free will :)
You have stated a reasonable argument for Creationism, but unfortunately most creationists also believe that the universe was created by a particular deity. They give this god a name and a sex, and some even believe in details about the universe that totally contradict observed fact.
I remember reading about a particular type of sub-atomic reaction that is best explained if one of the particles involved does actually travel backward in time. I wish I could remember more details.
Real Hamster
Sony would be shooting themselves in the foot to include reproductive functionality. Then people could get Aibo puppies for free!
Isn't it interesting that the first thing many people (including me) wanted to say about a robot pet that brings up many philosophical issues about the meaning of life compared to mechanical replacements is that the PC Card slot is in a funny location?
Isn't an N CPU machine usually a precursor to an N * 2 CPU machine?
The German law against violence in video games is a good example of a law with good intentions that could go awry. Once the government starts enforcing value judgements about content then there is a real danger that your own values may be outlawed. However I must give credit to Germany for having better laws on protecting the privacy of personal data, something we need in the US.
I heard if you can get a job in the UK it is the evening news too.
Uh oh, someone stated an opinion on this board. Good thing you were smart enough to figure that out. We wouldn't want to have any opinions here, would we?
The Soviet Union collapsed, and modern Russia is not in good shape. Why did you pick such a poor example of socialism?
Gambling goes deeper than entertainment, it is a very direct challenge to Fate, or Destiny, or whatever one calls it. The gambler may know that the game is a losing proposition, but he or she thinks about beating the odds and winning big. Most world religions are based on determining Fate, and there is an immense amount of literature that deals with this subject in all cultures. Capitalism revolves around gambling as well, take a closer look at the stock market (especially futures) and you will see this.
This tactic comes right out of Microsoft's playbook: screw the competition by giving away the product that competes with their cash cow. In this case I would be delighted to see MS hoisted with their own petard.
But if you look at sales figures you can see the most growth in two areas:
- Cheap desktops (less than $1000)
- Notebooks
I think people are getting smarter about computers and making the decision to buy a cheaper desktop if they don't need all that speed, and also choosing a smaller, cooler form factor like a laptop instead of buying a high-performance desktop.In addition, it looks like thin clients are making another go of it and that also indicates that people are rejecting performance at the cost of simplicity/reliability.
There will always be a hardcore minority of game/benchmark freaks that want the latest and greatest, and since they tend to also have more technical knowledge they have a disproportional representation on the web.
BTW since I just bought a new space heater... I mean Athlon desktop I have to count myself amongst the hardware freaks, but I sympathize with those that want a simpler computing experience.
I thought the results were quite humorous. I personally don't want to waste my time fooling around with privacy filters when I could be downloading pictures of your mom naked instead :)
And how much lift do those fans generate? What if you opened your case and those fans just blew your computer on to its side?
There IS a conspiracy to raise RAM prices, but it's legal. A couple of years ago RAM prices were dropping daily, and all the major RAM manufacturers were losing their shirts. They came to the conclusion that if they reduced the supply then the prices would go up, so they cut back on production. This is the inevitable result of capitalism. Fortunately it won't last forever; one of those memory manufacturers will get greedy and pump up production to take advantage of high prices. Everyone else will raise production too to keep up, and prices will drop again. If memory serves the same thing happened to the hard drive market at about the same time.
I am only going to start worrying if Rambus gets Micron or Samsung to pay royalties for DDR SDRAM. The rest are small potatoes.