- "i can't use my hands".. you can't when you drive either
You're oversimplifying. When you walk, you carry something, when you drive, you can put something on the seat next to you, when you use a Segway, the best you can do is wear a backpack. But can you really go grocery shopping for a family of four with one of these, or buy a new computer and take it home, etc? I don't think so. We'll still need our cars to do simple and mundane tasks.
Sure I'm impressed with the technology in the Segway and most/.ers probably are too. But I don't have a practical use for this thing. I live in the suburbs, if I want to go into the city, the Segway won't get me there and I'm not interested in carrying the thing onto a bus or a train.
Also, this country is so frigging overweight and you want to encourage people to walk LESS? The best part of being in the city is walking around. In the short term, a Segway might be a fun addition, but in the long term, I know I'd prefer to walk. Getting there faster doesn't make the journey more enjoyable.
Actually, my biggest criteria when shopping online is whether or not the site charges shipping. In the last 3 years (as long as I've shopped online) I've paid shipping costs only a few times. It's an added bonus if the site also doesn't charge tax. My comparison shopping includes prices at brick-and-mortar stores. I rarely shop just to browse, I tend to be looking for something specific so I end up buying from the cheapest vendor including shipping and/or taxes. Sometimes that means I drive to a store and once in a while I've paid shipping because it still came out cheaper.
Yes, having more sites charge tax may mean I'll end up buying more from physical stores but as long as Amazon and others give me free shipping for large orders, I'll keep using them. I rarely buy something I absolutely need today so who cares if it takes a week or more to arrive.
What if Linux were the monopoly operating system out there? What if it had a 95% market share and Microsoft/Apple had the other 5%? All you pro-linux people would of course say that it is because linux is the superior OS, its the easiest and most productive for consumers and all that. So what if Microsoft went to court to force linux to include.Net support?
You fools never think about the reversed situations. You only like it when the courts are used against your competetion and then you somehow rationalize it in your little minds to make yourselves feel better.
The flaw in your comparison is that having 95% of the market does not make you guilty of a crime. If linux actually became that popular because consumers recognized it as a superior OS that is perfectly legal and no court would force linux to include.Net support. If linux became that popular by using illegal monopolistic business practices, then you would have the reverse situation.
Should AOL cds have to include a copy of every other little ISP's installation software? Isnt AOL leveraging their monopoly and cash reserves to squeeze out other ISPs by shipping out millions of their cds?
Having a successful marketing gimmick (even if it is annoying) is not illegal. They're giving you lots of chances to install AOL but you aren't forced to do it. And last time I checked, AOL hasn't been accussed, charged, or convicted of preventing you from switching ISPs. Again, being the biggest and most widely recognized isn't illegal.
Should GM have to include Sony radio/cd players in their cars? Isnt GM forcing consumers to use their GM radios when they buy a car? Why shouldnt Sony be given an equal chance to have that consumer use a Sony radio? Should we include radios from every manufacturer in new cars and let the consumer choose which they want to use?
Well, if you buy a factory-built GM car, you do get whatever cheap radio it comes with, but GM doesn't prevent you from buying and installing a different one, do they? A good dealer might even do the work for you if it meant getting the sale.
if spammers can't resort to forging headers, won't this make them easy (easier) to filter?
no, it will make it easy to filter legitimate advertising because they'll follow the rules. While this would still be a good thing, the spammers are unlikely to follow the law and will remain a pain in the ass. unless of course, the penalty is great enough and someone is effectively prosecuted. oh, but then they'll just spam from outside the US and we're right back where we started.
I used to wear glasses/contacts and was very dependant on them from about age 5. My eyes quickly worsened to a prescription of -9.0 in one eye and -9.5 in the other with rather negligible astigmatism in each eye. I couldn't even see my hand when it was an inch from my face. I only wore contacts for special occassions because they were thick enough that they interfered with my ability to blink and really bothered me to wear regularily.
I was told about all the risks of LASIK including dry eyes, halos, blurry night vision, and that my prescription was considered an extreme case to be considered for the surgery. Honestly, after checking it out, the risk of complications were insignificant compared to the benefits for me. So 2.5 years ago I had LASIK at the age of 22 (my eyes had been stable for 3-4 years). I paid good money for an excellent doctor. I thought it very important to get someone who trains other doctors and had done thousands of procedures at a respectible eye surgery center (no outlet malls for me!).
I haven't regretted my choice once. Immediately after the procedure I had 20/30 vision in both eyes. Over the next few weeks it improved to 20/15. I haven't been to an eye doctor in about a year but will soon to check how my eyes are doing. I don't think they're quite 20/15 anymore but then again, I could just be more aware of the natural imperfections of good vision.
For the first few months, bright lights (headlights, stoplights, some lamps, etc.) had a rainbow effect around them as if I was looking at a prism. Of course, my eyes were so bad, I had that BEFORE the surgery! So that didn't really bother me and it faded over time. It took about a year for my night vision to become what I think is normal. I say "think" because I have no memory of what normal should be.
There is a half hour period each evening (starting about an hour after the sun goes down) during which the dim twilight seems kind of weird. I rarely need to drive anywhere at that time of day so it doesn't bother me.
For the record, I use computers constantly at work and at home and also watch a lot of television. I rarely experience eye strain or headaches even after a long day staring at the screen. Of course, this is with monitors running a refresh rate of 85Hz. I absolutely can't stand looking at a monitor running under 72Hz. I can really clearly see them flicker especially if there's a lot of white on the screen.
Overall, LASIK has been an absolute blessing for me. It's amazing not to be worried about stuff getting in your eyes and under your contacts or where exactly I put my glasses down before falling asleep. My brother had the procedure a few weeks after me and my parents had it a few weeks apart about 6 months later. Each of them ended up with 20/20 vision without any complications.
In Tolkien's notes in the appendices and other writings, he explains that the events of the Lord of the Rings are not the only events going on in Middle Earth. Sauron sent attack forces against many strongholds in addition to Minas Tirith in Gondor. For example, to prevent the dwarves and elves of the Greenwood (also called Mirkwood) from coming to the aid of Gondor, he laid siege to the Lonely Mountain (the one from the Hobbit). Also, the elves of Rivendell and Lothlorien feared an assault and believed they could not successfully defend both locations so Elrond and company joined Galadriel in Lothlorien. Therefore my explanation for Elrond's appearance in TTT (the movie) is that Peter Jackson is showing the full scale of the war in Middle Earth and not just the events of LOTR (the book).
It's not a free lunch, you have to consider the resulting increase in server CPU load. It's probably not an issue for low traffic sites but it's definitely a concern for sites like slashdot.
the obvious conclusion I would draw then is to store the pages in their compressed form. No extra CPU load except when authoring the website plus lower bandwidth usage. Of course, if the site uses pages that are dynamically created (slashdot included) this wouldn't work.
so you are going to tell me that when I download 5 DiVX movies a day (700+mb each) that I am *NOT* hogging 3.5G of bandwith for that day?
of course you're using 3.5G of bandwidth for the files. but the point of the article is that if it takes you all day to download those 5 movies, you're also using 1G of chatter as your client software responds to searches and forwards other people's searches around the network. so you're using at least 4.5G in that day. in this specific case, yes the files are still the majority of the bandwidth but let's say you're one of those pesky students who only happened to queue up 5 MP3s before you left for class but left the client on all day because you went straight to work and then a party. now the downloads (20M) are a tiny fraction of the total bandwidth (1.02G). BTW, I can certainly understand the college town effect although I was the annoying student in that situation:) Sorry about that!
Actually, another 20 million would place AotC over both LotR and Harry Potter and give it #8 all time (in the US). That would be a huge ego boost for Lucas since he's been royally trounced by hobbits, a spider, and a kid with glasses in every other way this year. Thankfully, worldwide nothing can save AotC, it's 150 million out of the top ten, 170 behind Spiderman (which is still climbing), 235 behind LotR, and 343 behind Harry Potter.
So if you work for a bank and forget to activate the security system when you lock up for the night, do you expect to still have a job in the morning after the bank is robbed? Of course the thief has committed a crime, but you're still at fault for making it possible.
Okay, I got curious and checked. The Tarzan DVD requires you to watch the FBI stuff. Once it hits the coming attractions, you can use the chapter advance buttons to get to the main menu quickly but all other operations are prohibited. I can see how Disney could get a lot of flak for this one. You can't even hit stop!
You've probably seen the boxes that say Warcraft III on them that don't contain a game but a novel based on the story. They are $10 and are for reserving a copy of the game so you'll get one the day it comes out. The novel is your reward for pre-ordering.
As the article explains, the reason this is considered precedential is that the Sixth Circuit Appeals Court (the one that would have heard this appeal) has already used the results of original trial when they decided a separate case. FORD quite rightly realized that their chance of winning the appeal was rather tiny since the Appeals Court had already approved the original ruling.
On most DVDs, the FBI warnings, etc. are simply a chapter at the beginning of the disk that refuses to respond to the fast forward button. But frequently the next chapter button will still work to bypass that stuff. It won't work for all DVDs but it's worth a try. Also, some DVD players don't allow the DVD to override the fast forward button; you could find one of those if it really bothers you.
--Atlantix2000
Re:AMI BIOS and beeping console
on
Pet Bugs?
·
· Score: 1
True, but the poster mentioned holding down just the modifier keys. It is my understanding that the keyboard only uses those keys internally and sends their state as flags when a "real" key is pressed. Thus you could never poll for a "shift key down" event because it would never be placed into the system's input buffer.
I don't have a convenient link to a good interview but I remember reading somewhere that they merged the two halves of the Two Towers so that both stories progress chronologically. And as another poster noted, some changes were made to where this movie ends (shelob in the third movie).
I've done a fair bit of traveling myself, and I can say that different currency always takes a bit of time to get used to. You have to train yourself to focus on the important differences. With US currency, it's the numbers (or the photos if you actually want to memorize those). With European currency it seems to be colors (which you must associate with numbers) as the numbers often have lots of distracting stuff around them that draws your eye AWAY from the number, arguably the most important information on the currency!
I think any good traveler would have to watch the numbers. I highly doubt there's an international standard for what color or size goes with each value so if you start depending on those features you'll just get confused. By keeping all American money the same color, we're forced to check the numbers which is a Good Thing.
And to the posters that complain about accidentally giving away a $20 when you meant to give a $5...stop blaming others just because you're a frigging idiot!
Consider this, many times, you just went to a bank machine and got $100 as five $20 bills. Then you buy a pack of gum to break one of the twenties. Later, when you go to pay for something that's $4.95, and you want to find that $5 bill you know is in your wallet, it's MUCH easier to just look for a blue piece of paper, rather than looking at the writing on each individual bill. Maybe it only saves you 5 or 10 seconds, but if you're in a line with 5 or 10 people, and each person takes 5 or 10 seconds longer, that adds up over the course of a day.
Of course, while you're waiting in line with those 5 to 10 people, you could find that $5 bill and have it ready by the time you get to the front of the line and the line will move efficiently. Of course, we could easily get into a discussion of the likelihood of Americans being that curteous...:)
Slashdot Mirror
- "i can't use my hands".. you can't when you drive either
/.ers probably are too. But I don't have a practical use for this thing. I live in the suburbs, if I want to go into the city, the Segway won't get me there and I'm not interested in carrying the thing onto a bus or a train.
You're oversimplifying. When you walk, you carry something, when you drive, you can put something on the seat next to you, when you use a Segway, the best you can do is wear a backpack. But can you really go grocery shopping for a family of four with one of these, or buy a new computer and take it home, etc? I don't think so. We'll still need our cars to do simple and mundane tasks.
Sure I'm impressed with the technology in the Segway and most
Also, this country is so frigging overweight and you want to encourage people to walk LESS? The best part of being in the city is walking around. In the short term, a Segway might be a fun addition, but in the long term, I know I'd prefer to walk. Getting there faster doesn't make the journey more enjoyable.
--Atlantix
I think the idea is the online vendor would charge the appropriate sales tax for the state the customer lives in. In your case, it would be nothing.
Actually, my biggest criteria when shopping online is whether or not the site charges shipping. In the last 3 years (as long as I've shopped online) I've paid shipping costs only a few times. It's an added bonus if the site also doesn't charge tax. My comparison shopping includes prices at brick-and-mortar stores. I rarely shop just to browse, I tend to be looking for something specific so I end up buying from the cheapest vendor including shipping and/or taxes. Sometimes that means I drive to a store and once in a while I've paid shipping because it still came out cheaper.
Yes, having more sites charge tax may mean I'll end up buying more from physical stores but as long as Amazon and others give me free shipping for large orders, I'll keep using them. I rarely buy something I absolutely need today so who cares if it takes a week or more to arrive.
--Atlantix
What if Linux were the monopoly operating system out there? What if it had a 95% market share and Microsoft/Apple had the other 5%? All you pro-linux people would of course say that it is because linux is the superior OS, its the easiest and most productive for consumers and all that. So what if Microsoft went to court to force linux to include .Net support?
.Net support. If linux became that popular by using illegal monopolistic business practices, then you would have the reverse situation.
You fools never think about the reversed situations. You only like it when the courts are used against your competetion and then you somehow rationalize it in your little minds to make yourselves feel better.
The flaw in your comparison is that having 95% of the market does not make you guilty of a crime. If linux actually became that popular because consumers recognized it as a superior OS that is perfectly legal and no court would force linux to include
Should AOL cds have to include a copy of every other little ISP's installation software? Isnt AOL leveraging their monopoly and cash reserves to squeeze out other ISPs by shipping out millions of their cds?
Having a successful marketing gimmick (even if it is annoying) is not illegal. They're giving you lots of chances to install AOL but you aren't forced to do it. And last time I checked, AOL hasn't been accussed, charged, or convicted of preventing you from switching ISPs. Again, being the biggest and most widely recognized isn't illegal.
Should GM have to include Sony radio/cd players in their cars? Isnt GM forcing consumers to use their GM radios when they buy a car? Why shouldnt Sony be given an equal chance to have that consumer use a Sony radio? Should we include radios from every manufacturer in new cars and let the consumer choose which they want to use?
Well, if you buy a factory-built GM car, you do get whatever cheap radio it comes with, but GM doesn't prevent you from buying and installing a different one, do they? A good dealer might even do the work for you if it meant getting the sale.
--Atlantix
if spammers can't resort to forging headers, won't this make them easy (easier) to filter?
no, it will make it easy to filter legitimate advertising because they'll follow the rules. While this would still be a good thing, the spammers are unlikely to follow the law and will remain a pain in the ass. unless of course, the penalty is great enough and someone is effectively prosecuted. oh, but then they'll just spam from outside the US and we're right back where we started.
--Atlantix
Who doesn't love google? Apparently some guy over at SearchKing!
--A2K
I used to wear glasses/contacts and was very dependant on them from about age 5. My eyes quickly worsened to a prescription of -9.0 in one eye and -9.5 in the other with rather negligible astigmatism in each eye. I couldn't even see my hand when it was an inch from my face. I only wore contacts for special occassions because they were thick enough that they interfered with my ability to blink and really bothered me to wear regularily.
I was told about all the risks of LASIK including dry eyes, halos, blurry night vision, and that my prescription was considered an extreme case to be considered for the surgery. Honestly, after checking it out, the risk of complications were insignificant compared to the benefits for me. So 2.5 years ago I had LASIK at the age of 22 (my eyes had been stable for 3-4 years). I paid good money for an excellent doctor. I thought it very important to get someone who trains other doctors and had done thousands of procedures at a respectible eye surgery center (no outlet malls for me!).
I haven't regretted my choice once. Immediately after the procedure I had 20/30 vision in both eyes. Over the next few weeks it improved to 20/15. I haven't been to an eye doctor in about a year but will soon to check how my eyes are doing. I don't think they're quite 20/15 anymore but then again, I could just be more aware of the natural imperfections of good vision.
For the first few months, bright lights (headlights, stoplights, some lamps, etc.) had a rainbow effect around them as if I was looking at a prism. Of course, my eyes were so bad, I had that BEFORE the surgery! So that didn't really bother me and it faded over time. It took about a year for my night vision to become what I think is normal. I say "think" because I have no memory of what normal should be.
There is a half hour period each evening (starting about an hour after the sun goes down) during which the dim twilight seems kind of weird. I rarely need to drive anywhere at that time of day so it doesn't bother me.
For the record, I use computers constantly at work and at home and also watch a lot of television. I rarely experience eye strain or headaches even after a long day staring at the screen. Of course, this is with monitors running a refresh rate of 85Hz. I absolutely can't stand looking at a monitor running under 72Hz. I can really clearly see them flicker especially if there's a lot of white on the screen.
Overall, LASIK has been an absolute blessing for me. It's amazing not to be worried about stuff getting in your eyes and under your contacts or where exactly I put my glasses down before falling asleep. My brother had the procedure a few weeks after me and my parents had it a few weeks apart about 6 months later. Each of them ended up with 20/20 vision without any complications.
--Atlantix
In Tolkien's notes in the appendices and other writings, he explains that the events of the Lord of the Rings are not the only events going on in Middle Earth. Sauron sent attack forces against many strongholds in addition to Minas Tirith in Gondor. For example, to prevent the dwarves and elves of the Greenwood (also called Mirkwood) from coming to the aid of Gondor, he laid siege to the Lonely Mountain (the one from the Hobbit). Also, the elves of Rivendell and Lothlorien feared an assault and believed they could not successfully defend both locations so Elrond and company joined Galadriel in Lothlorien. Therefore my explanation for Elrond's appearance in TTT (the movie) is that Peter Jackson is showing the full scale of the war in Middle Earth and not just the events of LOTR (the book).
--Atlantix
It's not a free lunch, you have to consider the resulting increase in server CPU load. It's probably not an issue for low traffic sites but it's definitely a concern for sites like slashdot.
the obvious conclusion I would draw then is to store the pages in their compressed form. No extra CPU load except when authoring the website plus lower bandwidth usage. Of course, if the site uses pages that are dynamically created (slashdot included) this wouldn't work.
--Atlantix2000
so you are going to tell me that when I download 5 DiVX movies a day (700+mb each) that I am *NOT* hogging 3.5G of bandwith for that day?
:) Sorry about that!
of course you're using 3.5G of bandwidth for the files. but the point of the article is that if it takes you all day to download those 5 movies, you're also using 1G of chatter as your client software responds to searches and forwards other people's searches around the network. so you're using at least 4.5G in that day. in this specific case, yes the files are still the majority of the bandwidth but let's say you're one of those pesky students who only happened to queue up 5 MP3s before you left for class but left the client on all day because you went straight to work and then a party. now the downloads (20M) are a tiny fraction of the total bandwidth (1.02G). BTW, I can certainly understand the college town effect although I was the annoying student in that situation
--Atlantix2000
Actually, another 20 million would place AotC over both LotR and Harry Potter and give it #8 all time (in the US). That would be a huge ego boost for Lucas since he's been royally trounced by hobbits, a spider, and a kid with glasses in every other way this year. Thankfully, worldwide nothing can save AotC, it's 150 million out of the top ten, 170 behind Spiderman (which is still climbing), 235 behind LotR, and 343 behind Harry Potter.
--Atlantix2000
So if you work for a bank and forget to activate the security system when you lock up for the night, do you expect to still have a job in the morning after the bank is robbed? Of course the thief has committed a crime, but you're still at fault for making it possible.
Okay, I got curious and checked. The Tarzan DVD requires you to watch the FBI stuff. Once it hits the coming attractions, you can use the chapter advance buttons to get to the main menu quickly but all other operations are prohibited. I can see how Disney could get a lot of flak for this one. You can't even hit stop!
--Atlantix2000
I admit I haven't checked if this works, but how about using the select-a-scene feature and choosing chapter 1?
--Atlantix2000
m-w.com (abbridged merriam webster) found 135 words containing 'eval'
you're kidding right? they couldn't be bothered to put the full UN-abbridged version of their dictionary on the web? that's truly sad.
--Atlantix2000
Dell's advertising campaigns are hugely successful, despite my overwhelming hatred for that "Dude, you're getting a Dell" guy.
In that case, you'll be happy to read this article about the Dell guy getting in trouble
with the Screen Actors Guild.
--Atlantix2000
Did ya read the article? They DO mention web authoring programs so I think they covered all the bases.
--Atlantix2000
You've probably seen the boxes that say Warcraft III on them that don't contain a game but a novel based on the story. They are $10 and are for reserving a copy of the game so you'll get one the day it comes out. The novel is your reward for pre-ordering.
--Atlantix2000
As the article explains, the reason this is considered precedential is that the Sixth Circuit Appeals Court (the one that would have heard this appeal) has already used the results of original trial when they decided a separate case. FORD quite rightly realized that their chance of winning the appeal was rather tiny since the Appeals Court had already approved the original ruling.
--Atlantix2000
On most DVDs, the FBI warnings, etc. are simply a chapter at the beginning of the disk that refuses to respond to the fast forward button. But frequently the next chapter button will still work to bypass that stuff. It won't work for all DVDs but it's worth a try. Also, some DVD players don't allow the DVD to override the fast forward button; you could find one of those if it really bothers you.
--Atlantix2000
True, but the poster mentioned holding down just the modifier keys. It is my understanding that the keyboard only uses those keys internally and sends their state as flags when a "real" key is pressed. Thus you could never poll for a "shift key down" event because it would never be placed into the system's input buffer.
--Atlantix2000
I don't have a convenient link to a good interview but I remember reading somewhere that they merged the two halves of the Two Towers so that both stories progress chronologically. And as another poster noted, some changes were made to where this movie ends (shelob in the third movie).
--Atlantix2000
Spaceballs!
Well, there goes the planet.
(So what can I do with my bonus points?)
--Atlantix2000
I've done a fair bit of traveling myself, and I can say that different currency always takes a bit of time to get used to. You have to train yourself to focus on the important differences. With US currency, it's the numbers (or the photos if you actually want to memorize those). With European currency it seems to be colors (which you must associate with numbers) as the numbers often have lots of distracting stuff around them that draws your eye AWAY from the number, arguably the most important information on the currency!
I think any good traveler would have to watch the numbers. I highly doubt there's an international standard for what color or size goes with each value so if you start depending on those features you'll just get confused. By keeping all American money the same color, we're forced to check the numbers which is a Good Thing.
And to the posters that complain about accidentally giving away a $20 when you meant to give a $5...stop blaming others just because you're a frigging idiot!
--Atlantix2000
Consider this, many times, you just went to a bank machine and got $100 as five $20 bills. Then you buy a pack of gum to break one of the twenties. Later, when you go to pay for something that's $4.95, and you want to find that $5 bill you know is in your wallet, it's MUCH easier to just look for a blue piece of paper, rather than looking at the writing on each individual bill. Maybe it only saves you 5 or 10 seconds, but if you're in a line with 5 or 10 people, and each person takes 5 or 10 seconds longer, that adds up over the course of a day.
:)
Of course, while you're waiting in line with those 5 to 10 people, you could find that $5 bill and have it ready by the time you get to the front of the line and the line will move efficiently. Of course, we could easily get into a discussion of the likelihood of Americans being that curteous...
--Atlantix2000