I wonder whether these stats include the On Demand services available from the cable companies? My Comcast TV service (live and/or on demand) is clearly internet based but are they counting that usage as internet bandwidth?
'This new schedule represents a delay of six weeks with respect to the previous schedule, which foresaw the LHC "cold [sic?????] at the beginning of July".
Nothing wrong with that sentence. The LHC runs at 4 degrees Kelvin (or -269 degrees celsius). It takes weeks to cool it to that temperature so if the goal is "cold at the beginning of July" that means everything is sealed up (no more human access) and they start cooling by the beginning of June.
Anyway, you want snappy response, use Linux. Want modern Windows OS, that's Vista. XP to Vista is like 2000 was to XP - people said they'll switch to Linux and were throwing tantrums on Slashdot but guess what? Now NO ONE uses 2000 anymore.
Maybe that should say no one you know uses 2000 anymore? My home PC still has 2000 on it, and the only issue I have with it is the drivers for its wireless card. It sometimes requires a reboot to unconfuse it, but that's not really a big deal since I turn it off at night anyway. It's loaded with all the applications I use on my XP PC at work (including CAD, FPGA design, and PC board design) with no compatibility problems. Why haven't I upgraded? Because there nothing wrong with it the way it is.
XP is certainly a better OS, but I don't NEED a better OS. And that's where Microsoft has a problem with users like me, I have zero incentive to look at their new products.
You make interesting points but how do you take the following into account...
Virtually every major retailer includes a 30 day price guarantee. If they advertise a lower price within 30 days of your purchase, just bring in your receipt and they refund the difference. It's an easy promise to make because virtually nobody bothers to go back to the store to claim their refund.
So in your scenarios above, all three categories CAN get the PS3 for the same sale price regardless of purchase date. The ads would have to be more than a month early before Circuit City is technically being screwed. Its just that in reality most people won't notice or care so Circuit City can claim they're being screwed immediately.
Sounds like you got what you paid for. Sam's Club is great for some things, but you won't get the highest quality light bulbs there. Just ones they can sell super cheap. Newer CF bulbs reach full brightness much faster and there are some that claim "Instant-On" on their packaging but carry a higher price tag.
I've been replacing the lights in my house with CF as the incandescent ones die. As I do this, I put the newest CFs in the rooms I use often and transfer the older ones to places like the living room where they turn on and off each night by timer. No need to care about speed there. Eventually, those old CFs will find their way into closets and such. I've lived in my house ~18 months now. Most major lighting is already CF and not a single one has died. If I was tracking costs, I'd be getting close to breaking even soon.
[quote]I've been to Argonne West a few times, and one of the things that I remember is thinking man was it dilapidated...except for APS.[/quote]
Um, the APS is at Argonne (in Illinois) not the former Argonne West (in Idaho). Actually, Argonne West doesn't exist anymore. It's now the Idaho National Laboratory and the two labs have little interaction anymore.
But to keep going with this analogy... If you're traveling this sphere, and going "north", how do you know that you've reached the north pole? I think you'd pass it and keep going in the same direction. Without a reference point off of the sphere, you'd think you were on an infinite plane. In fact, you'd travel the same path over and over, creating a cyclical universe.
So back to time, would you know you've reached the beginning? How would you know?
Just to add, yes I have an HD box. In fact, that's the only kind Comcast gives out now whether you have HD service or not.
I've never seen the phantom recordings thing, but I have had it skip a couple recordings with odd start times that it said had no conflicts. I did have both tuners busy though (one recording straight from 7-9PM, the other one program from 7-8:32PM, and another 8:32-9PM). I assume it took a little too long to finish saving the 7-8:32 show and missed the start of the 8:32 show. It would be better if it just started a minute late.
Maybe you have an older Comcast box, mine has many of the problems you describe, but I can explain others.
There is a swap button to switch between tuners so you're not locked to one station if you are recording it. It's at the very bottom of the remote, second from the left.
As for the front display, it really isn't that complicated: The LED in the lower left is the power indicator (yellow is on, off is off). The LED in the lower right, comes on when it gets input from the remote. Normally it just flashes yellow, but if it stays on, don't hit any more buttons because it is lagging. The LED is the upper left indicates if you have any messages (red is yes, off is no). The LED in the upper right indicates the state of the tuner you're NOT watching (the red light is on if it's recording, off if not).
The display in the middle gives the state of the tuner you ARE watching (it says REC if recording, or the time if you're just watching live TV). It will also say PLAY here if both tuners are recording you start watching a program from the hard drive.
If you are smart enough to send an exe that makes sense, you're smart enough to rename it.
But here is where you missed the point of this discussion. This is a smart user who has already tried to renaming and zipping a legit.exe file and gmail is STILL blocking it. That's NOT what an email program should do.
The fact that faults in this patch have been found is a perfect example of why his standard of trust is just right. With open source software, we're supposed to trust the community to check the source, they did and say it's not good enough. This validates the process. Installing without first checking the opinion of the community would be silly.
Good questions. It's hard (maybe impossible) to know that an open source patch to a closed source product doesn't break something else. On the bright side, you can know the executable doesn't have extra crap. The point of releasing the source code is so anyone can compile it and verify it actually produces the executable.
Sounds like you're in a no-win situation. You won't install a patch without the MS seal of approval but the patch (allegedly) repairs a known flaw in a product that HAD the MS seal of approval. So that begs the question: What is the value of the MS seal of approval if they're wrong? You'll never be able to install anything!!!
In many cases, when someone create an account with an ISP, they accept responsiblity for everything their computer(s) do regardless of who does them. Go check your terms of service. You may find "it wasn't me" isn't a good defence.
--Atlantix
Re:I won't even see the original release in theatr
on
The Trilogy as One
·
· Score: 2, Informative
I do understand and share your feelings about 90 minute films being a waste and deleted scenes/extras on most DVDs not being worth it. I definitely feel cheated when I walk out of a short and overhyped movie, especially when I can tell it's that short because the director couldn't find any more material that qualified as "good".
With that said, there is a HUGE difference with the LOTR DVDs. You're starting with a 3 hour movie in which Peter Jackson made cuts he DIDN'T want to make. Then, they didn't just provide the unfinished deleted scenes on a menu on a separate disc, they integrated those scenes back into the original film along with newly recorded soundtrack material. And they did it so well that the Fellowship movie actually feels different (and more complete). The extras are also impressive in the amount of detail shown about the production process. Most extras are interviews filmed after the fact. These were an integrated part of the production which is why they are actually worth watching. I'm expecting just as polished a job for the Two Towers. If anything, the success of these movies and the DVDs should prove to other studios that we recognize and want quality.
As for raking us over the coals, yes many DVD re-releases do just that (how many versions of T2 exist now?). However, New Line has been very upfront about their plans for the LOTR DVDs. They announced early on that there would be two releases for each movie: one with the theatrical release and minimal extras, and one with an extended version of the film and many different extras. That last part is important. Having bought both Fellowship DVDs I can honestly say in the many hours of extras there is almost no overlap (less than 15 minutes at a guess) between the extras on the two releases. New Line and Peter Jackson have also announced (before either release of Fellowship) that there would be NO super-mega-deluxe editions of the movies. Once all the movies are out, they'll certainly package them together but they'll package them as they are.
Various conspiracy theorists won't believe such announcements, and given the history of the movie industry, I can understand why. But I do believe Peter Jackson if for no other reason than they put so MUCH into the extras that I have no idea what they could be saving.
The original exemptions are due to the FTC not having control over airlines, banks, and phone companies. Those industries are regulated by the FCC. If you read this article at CNN: http://www.cnn.com/2003/ALLPOLITICS/06/27/do.not.c all.ap/index.html, you'll find the following quote:
"The FCC voted 5-0 Thursday to add its authority to the do-not-call list and to plug holes in its protections. The registry will now also block telemarketers from industries whose calls the FCC regulates, including airlines, banks and telephone companies."
So by the time it goes active (october 1) this thing WILL be useful.
You're right that those businesses are exempt according to the FTC but that is because the FTC has no authority over those businesses. The FCC does and check out this quote from the CNN article at http://www.cnn.com/2003/ALLPOLITICS/06/27/do.not.c all.ap/index.html
"The FCC voted 5-0 Thursday to add its authority to the do-not-call list and to plug holes in its protections. The registry will now also block telemarketers from industries whose calls the FCC regulates, including airlines, banks and telephone companies."
You make great points. Older CDs should cost less. Virtually every other product (including the DVD) works that way. Ignoring the effect of online retailers, let's look at the 3 stores mentioned - Sam Goody, Tower Records, and Musicland. These three are losing money because they can't even compete with other brick and mortar stores. Walk into WalMart, Best Buy Circuit City, etc and the average price of a CD is $11.99-$13.99 these days. Walk into Sam Goody, etc and the average price is what $17.99 now? I window shop there when I'm in a mall, but I would NEVER buy from them when I have cheaper options.
Ironically, isn't Sam Goody owned by Best Buy? You'd think they could take advantage of BB's volume purchasing. Unless of course the brain dead people that shop at Sam Goody are subsidizing my lower prices at Best Buy. In which case, let Darwin do his worst!
Hehe, I've had people swap stickers on me to try and fool me. When I tell them which stickers they moved within 2 minutes, the look on their faces is priceless. I usually solve a cube in 3-4 minutes. I memorized a method from a book years and years ago. It's terribly inefficient but I've gotten it pretty fast over the years. I've just never cared enough to learn a better method.
Then why don't you drop some change at the news stand and buy yourself a dead-tree copy, Privacy-Boy?
What guarantee do I have that this article is in today's newstand version? Also, by the time I have a chance to get a hard copy over say my lunch hour, the/. article would be several stories down, the main discussion over, and few people will respond to anything I say.
Do you not think that the NYT deserves some form of compensation for publishing a story that drives so much discussion (and pageviews) on this site and elsewhere?
Are my banner ad views more valuable if they're associated with my fake identity? I don't think so. And if ad companies do pay more if they think they are more targeted, then they're just wasting their money. Honestly, it's the hassle of filling out forms especially when I deny cookies anyway so I get the registration page every time. If they just served the page with banner ads and no registration, I'd be happy.
While that might work in some countries, don't you think in China the phone companies would have to make exceptions for the police? Especially if the police phrase it as "you WILL allow us to call him."
Well, you're right, I can't say "no" to any of your questions but I would like to pose one for you.
Do you believe that making these things illegal will actually reduce their occurence?
I would argue they won't unless every country in the world adopts the same laws AND can effectively enforce them. I just don't see that happening anytime soon. While the idea of legislating spam is good in principle, I'm depressed by my belief that it won't help much.
In my view, the no excercise argument really isn't valid, since you get more excercise on the scooter than you would riding in a car.
Only if you can seriously count standing still on a moving platform and leaning forward as exercise. I'd guess one or two jumping jacks would match that level of exertion over the life of at least one Segway battery.
Slashdot Mirror
I wonder whether these stats include the On Demand services available from the cable companies? My Comcast TV service (live and/or on demand) is clearly internet based but are they counting that usage as internet bandwidth?
'This new schedule represents a delay of six weeks with respect to the previous schedule, which foresaw the LHC "cold [sic?????] at the beginning of July".
Nothing wrong with that sentence. The LHC runs at 4 degrees Kelvin (or -269 degrees celsius). It takes weeks to cool it to that temperature so if the goal is "cold at the beginning of July" that means everything is sealed up (no more human access) and they start cooling by the beginning of June.
--Atlantix
Anyway, you want snappy response, use Linux. Want modern Windows OS, that's Vista. XP to Vista is like 2000 was to XP - people said they'll switch to Linux and were throwing tantrums on Slashdot but guess what? Now NO ONE uses 2000 anymore.
Maybe that should say no one you know uses 2000 anymore? My home PC still has 2000 on it, and the only issue I have with it is the drivers for its wireless card. It sometimes requires a reboot to unconfuse it, but that's not really a big deal since I turn it off at night anyway. It's loaded with all the applications I use on my XP PC at work (including CAD, FPGA design, and PC board design) with no compatibility problems. Why haven't I upgraded? Because there nothing wrong with it the way it is.
XP is certainly a better OS, but I don't NEED a better OS. And that's where Microsoft has a problem with users like me, I have zero incentive to look at their new products.
You make interesting points but how do you take the following into account...
Virtually every major retailer includes a 30 day price guarantee. If they advertise a lower price within 30 days of your purchase, just bring in your receipt and they refund the difference. It's an easy promise to make because virtually nobody bothers to go back to the store to claim their refund.
So in your scenarios above, all three categories CAN get the PS3 for the same sale price regardless of purchase date. The ads would have to be more than a month early before Circuit City is technically being screwed. Its just that in reality most people won't notice or care so Circuit City can claim they're being screwed immediately.
--A2K
Sounds like you got what you paid for. Sam's Club is great for some things, but you won't get the highest quality light bulbs there. Just ones they can sell super cheap. Newer CF bulbs reach full brightness much faster and there are some that claim "Instant-On" on their packaging but carry a higher price tag.
I've been replacing the lights in my house with CF as the incandescent ones die. As I do this, I put the newest CFs in the rooms I use often and transfer the older ones to places like the living room where they turn on and off each night by timer. No need to care about speed there. Eventually, those old CFs will find their way into closets and such. I've lived in my house ~18 months now. Most major lighting is already CF and not a single one has died. If I was tracking costs, I'd be getting close to breaking even soon.
--A2K
Hmm, maybe that's why the summary says he was the first to face the million dollar question in three years?
--Atlantix
[quote]I've been to Argonne West a few times, and one of the things that I remember is thinking man was it dilapidated...except for APS.[/quote]
Um, the APS is at Argonne (in Illinois) not the former Argonne West (in Idaho). Actually, Argonne West doesn't exist anymore. It's now the Idaho National Laboratory and the two labs have little interaction anymore.
--A2K
But to keep going with this analogy... If you're traveling this sphere, and going "north", how do you know that you've reached the north pole? I think you'd pass it and keep going in the same direction. Without a reference point off of the sphere, you'd think you were on an infinite plane. In fact, you'd travel the same path over and over, creating a cyclical universe.
So back to time, would you know you've reached the beginning? How would you know?
--A2K
Just to add, yes I have an HD box. In fact, that's the only kind Comcast gives out now whether you have HD service or not.
I've never seen the phantom recordings thing, but I have had it skip a couple recordings with odd start times that it said had no conflicts. I did have both tuners busy though (one recording straight from 7-9PM, the other one program from 7-8:32PM, and another 8:32-9PM). I assume it took a little too long to finish saving the 7-8:32 show and missed the start of the 8:32 show. It would be better if it just started a minute late.
--Atlantix
Maybe you have an older Comcast box, mine has many of the problems you describe, but I can explain others.
There is a swap button to switch between tuners so you're not locked to one station if you are recording it. It's at the very bottom of the remote, second from the left.
As for the front display, it really isn't that complicated:
The LED in the lower left is the power indicator (yellow is on, off is off).
The LED in the lower right, comes on when it gets input from the remote. Normally it just flashes yellow, but if it stays on, don't hit any more buttons because it is lagging.
The LED is the upper left indicates if you have any messages (red is yes, off is no).
The LED in the upper right indicates the state of the tuner you're NOT watching (the red light is on if it's recording, off if not).
The display in the middle gives the state of the tuner you ARE watching (it says REC if recording, or the time if you're just watching live TV). It will also say PLAY here if both tuners are recording you start watching a program from the hard drive.
--Atlantix
Absolutely agreed.
But here is where you missed the point of this discussion. This is a smart user who has already tried to renaming and zipping a legit
--A2K
The fact that faults in this patch have been found is a perfect example of why his standard of trust is just right. With open source software, we're supposed to trust the community to check the source, they did and say it's not good enough. This validates the process. Installing without first checking the opinion of the community would be silly.
--Atlantix
Identical posts in different threads, very lame.
Good questions. It's hard (maybe impossible) to know that an open source patch to a closed source product doesn't break something else. On the bright side, you can know the executable doesn't have extra crap. The point of releasing the source code is so anyone can compile it and verify it actually produces the executable.
--Atlantix
Sounds like you're in a no-win situation. You won't install a patch without the MS seal of approval but the patch (allegedly) repairs a known flaw in a product that HAD the MS seal of approval. So that begs the question: What is the value of the MS seal of approval if they're wrong? You'll never be able to install anything!!!
--Atlantix
In many cases, when someone create an account with an ISP, they accept responsiblity for everything their computer(s) do regardless of who does them. Go check your terms of service. You may find "it wasn't me" isn't a good defence.
--Atlantix
I do understand and share your feelings about 90 minute films being a waste and deleted scenes/extras on most DVDs not being worth it. I definitely feel cheated when I walk out of a short and overhyped movie, especially when I can tell it's that short because the director couldn't find any more material that qualified as "good".
With that said, there is a HUGE difference with the LOTR DVDs. You're starting with a 3 hour movie in which Peter Jackson made cuts he DIDN'T want to make. Then, they didn't just provide the unfinished deleted scenes on a menu on a separate disc, they integrated those scenes back into the original film along with newly recorded soundtrack material. And they did it so well that the Fellowship movie actually feels different (and more complete). The extras are also impressive in the amount of detail shown about the production process. Most extras are interviews filmed after the fact. These were an integrated part of the production which is why they are actually worth watching. I'm expecting just as polished a job for the Two Towers. If anything, the success of these movies and the DVDs should prove to other studios that we recognize and want quality.
As for raking us over the coals, yes many DVD re-releases do just that (how many versions of T2 exist now?). However, New Line has been very upfront about their plans for the LOTR DVDs. They announced early on that there would be two releases for each movie: one with the theatrical release and minimal extras, and one with an extended version of the film and many different extras. That last part is important. Having bought both Fellowship DVDs I can honestly say in the many hours of extras there is almost no overlap (less than 15 minutes at a guess) between the extras on the two releases. New Line and Peter Jackson have also announced (before either release of Fellowship) that there would be NO super-mega-deluxe editions of the movies. Once all the movies are out, they'll certainly package them together but they'll package them as they are.
Various conspiracy theorists won't believe such announcements, and given the history of the movie industry, I can understand why. But I do believe Peter Jackson if for no other reason than they put so MUCH into the extras that I have no idea what they could be saving.
--Atlantix
The original exemptions are due to the FTC not having control over airlines, banks, and phone companies. Those industries are regulated by the FCC. If you read this article at CNN: http://www.cnn.com/2003/ALLPOLITICS/06/27/do.not.c all.ap/index.html, you'll find the following quote:
"The FCC voted 5-0 Thursday to add its authority to the do-not-call list and to plug holes in its protections. The registry will now also block telemarketers from industries whose calls the FCC regulates, including airlines, banks and telephone companies."
So by the time it goes active (october 1) this thing WILL be useful.
--Atlantix
You're right that those businesses are exempt according to the FTC but that is because the FTC has no authority over those businesses. The FCC does and check out this quote from the CNN article at http://www.cnn.com/2003/ALLPOLITICS/06/27/do.not.c all.ap/index.html
"The FCC voted 5-0 Thursday to add its authority to the do-not-call list and to plug holes in its protections. The registry will now also block telemarketers from industries whose calls the FCC regulates, including airlines, banks and telephone companies."
So sign up, it will be worth it.
--Atlantix
You make great points. Older CDs should cost less. Virtually every other product (including the DVD) works that way. Ignoring the effect of online retailers, let's look at the 3 stores mentioned - Sam Goody, Tower Records, and Musicland. These three are losing money because they can't even compete with other brick and mortar stores. Walk into WalMart, Best Buy Circuit City, etc and the average price of a CD is $11.99-$13.99 these days. Walk into Sam Goody, etc and the average price is what $17.99 now? I window shop there when I'm in a mall, but I would NEVER buy from them when I have cheaper options.
Ironically, isn't Sam Goody owned by Best Buy? You'd think they could take advantage of BB's volume purchasing. Unless of course the brain dead people that shop at Sam Goody are subsidizing my lower prices at Best Buy. In which case, let Darwin do his worst!
--Atlantix
Hehe, I've had people swap stickers on me to try and fool me. When I tell them which stickers they moved within 2 minutes, the look on their faces is priceless. I usually solve a cube in 3-4 minutes. I memorized a method from a book years and years ago. It's terribly inefficient but I've gotten it pretty fast over the years. I've just never cared enough to learn a better method.
--Atlantix
Then why don't you drop some change at the news stand and buy yourself a dead-tree copy, Privacy-Boy?
/. article would be several stories down, the main discussion over, and few people will respond to anything I say.
What guarantee do I have that this article is in today's newstand version? Also, by the time I have a chance to get a hard copy over say my lunch hour, the
Do you not think that the NYT deserves some form of compensation for publishing a story that drives so much discussion (and pageviews) on this site and elsewhere?
Are my banner ad views more valuable if they're associated with my fake identity? I don't think so. And if ad companies do pay more if they think they are more targeted, then they're just wasting their money. Honestly, it's the hassle of filling out forms especially when I deny cookies anyway so I get the registration page every time. If they just served the page with banner ads and no registration, I'd be happy.
--Atlantix
While that might work in some countries, don't you think in China the phone companies would have to make exceptions for the police? Especially if the police phrase it as "you WILL allow us to call him."
--Atlantix
Well, you're right, I can't say "no" to any of your questions but I would like to pose one for you.
Do you believe that making these things illegal will actually reduce their occurence?
I would argue they won't unless every country in the world adopts the same laws AND can effectively enforce them. I just don't see that happening anytime soon. While the idea of legislating spam is good in principle, I'm depressed by my belief that it won't help much.
--Atlantix
In my view, the no excercise argument really isn't valid, since you get more excercise on the scooter than you would riding in a car.
Only if you can seriously count standing still on a moving platform and leaning forward as exercise. I'd guess one or two jumping jacks would match that level of exertion over the life of at least one Segway battery.
--Atlantix